Broken Swords
by General RTS
Summary: His entire life Naruto grew up neglected by his family for his vaunted sister who held the Kyuubi's Yang chakra. One fateful night however, he inherits the abilities and ideals of a crimson clad Counter Guardian. And now, he will forge his own path, a path he has no intentions on regretting to the bitter end.
1. Hell and Heaven: First Blade

**General RTS:** Yes, this is another Naruto neglected fanfic. I know there are literally dozens of these stories out of fanfiction, but god dammit it is such a good concept I couldn't get this damn idea out of my head. It's really interesting to see how Naruto's life could still suck even with both his parents still alive. So far, I don't think anyone has really done a FSN take on it yet and the idea kind of started forming in my head.

*SPOILER ALERT* (You can skip these if you want they'll be quite long)

First of all, besides a little cameo by a certain Multiverse travelling wizard, I'm not planning on having any typemoon characters in the Narutoverse plotline. Our little wizard here along with Archer are more or less plot devices that give Naruto powers and shape him to be who he will become later on in a few chapters.

Even so you can still see the typemoon influence in Mana Aozaki who you'll see will soon become a mother figure for Naruto. A major recurring theme in typemoon stories is that a lot of the main characters have non-biological parent (or pseudoparent) figures that play a major role in shaping the characters but doesn't really play a role in the actual plot. Shirou and Kiritsugu, Kiritsugu and Natalia, Shiki and Aoko (kinda). One of the things that has always bothered me about Naruto is that there's virtually no explanation as to why he's this happy, lucky go figure when he grew up alone and hated by everyone around him. I think typemoon does a lot better job in having in depth characters by actually trying to explain them. As some of you can already probably tell, I took the last name Aozaki from Aoko Aozaki, considering I initially based a lot of Mana's personality off of hers towards Shiki. After a while though I think the relationship kinda became more like Grey and Ur (fairy tail). I chose the name Mana because it means love and affection, which is more or less her primary role for Naruto in this story. Most neglect stories usually have Naruto being adopted by a male figure. Personally I think mothers are much more central in a child's growth and also... How do you think Kushina's going to react when she finds out she's been replaced?

I had a hard time choosing whether or not Sasuke should be a girl or a guy. One one hand the canon creates a clear parallel with Jiraiya and Orochimaru and also with Harashima and Madara which really gives you this feel of clashing ideologies between light and dark. On the other hand if she was a girl VOTE would have ended **a lot** differently.

What would have happened according to my (dirty, dirty, little) mind

_Sasuko: You can't stop me Naruto. I have to do this... to kill my brother and to avenge my clan._

_Naruto: Well I guess nothing I say can stop you. That's a shame because I was planning on losing my virginity today._

_Sasuko: In that case I'l-... Wait... What?"_

_Naruto: Well, I suppose I'll have no other choice but to go find another girl. I wonder if Hinata's free?_

_Sasuko: ... What?_

_Naruto: Or maybe Ino and Sakura would be willing... at the same time._

_Sasuko: ... **What**? (starts twitching violently)_

_Naruto: Or all of the above! Well see ya Sasuko have fun with the snake pedophile!_

_Sasuko: ... NARUTO GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!_

_And they lived happily ever after. _

Canon would have been sooooo much shorter if that had happened. I made Sasuke a girl not out of a desire for romance, but because I think Naruto is facing enough angst and drama with his family and because I'm exploring a whole different set of themes. I feared that leaving Sasuke the ways he was risked taking away attention from all that.

*SPOILER END*

* * *

**Hell and Heaven: Prologue**

_"Naruto Aozaki was enigma to the history of the Elemental Continent. To both modern and contemporary historians his actions were incomprehensible. He threw himself into the most dangerous of confrontations saving the lives of thousands of people without discrimination or reason. He never fought for personal gain, desiring neither fame, glory or even honor. It was as though he was a sword forged for the sole purpose of protecting others. A sword that would that would fight, fight and fight until it was it could fight no more… A sword destined to be broken." _

Even at the tender age of six years old when life is just at its beginning, Naruto Namikaze had been forced to mature faster than anyone else his age. Why? Seven years ago on the night of his and his twin sister, Hitomi's, birth a man wearing an orange and black spiral mask attacked the Namikaze compound. After their mother Kushina Namikaze had given birth to them, the man had kidnapped her and using some sort of ninjutsu he forcefully extracted the Kyuubi no Yoko from her. Then using the power of the Sharingan he controlled the beast and used it to attack his home of Konohagakure no Sato.

That night the fox caused nothing, but death and destruction. However, his father, the Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze, use a powerful sealing jutsu. He used the power to separate the Kyuubi's yang chakra from it and sealed it into his newborn daughter, Hitomi. As for the Yin chakra and the soul, he sealed it into his son.

Once all that was over, Minato told the village that someone powerful summoned the Kyuubi to destroy the village. But he had defeated the beast and sealed it into his daughter who would use the power to protect the village. The people, who loved Minato, trusted his judgment and accepted Hitomi as the savior of their village and treated her like a hero.

Naruto's life however had been a living hell ever since. He had no friends save a select few individuals since the villagers hated him for possessing the soul of the Kyuubi and worst of all his parents had brushed him aside as though he was nothing more than garbage. On their fourth birthday, Naruto was forgotten again. That was two years ago. Today he would go and ask his parents if he could train with them and Hitomi like they had been doing for months.

On October tenth the day of his sixth birthday, Naruto walked out of his room and went out to see that his parents were getting the gear ready for Hitomi's training. He went to ask if he could train with them today, but when he got close he heard them only talking about Hitomi and how happy she would be, they mentioned nothing about him.

The days seemed to go the same way they went by every day the same way as they always did. Right now a six year old Naruto watched his parents teach his younger sister Hitomi their fighting styles with a scroll of Jutsu on the side for later. He was hoping that today would be the day that they would finally be that day that they would finally train him he hoped for that every day as long as he could remember that wall he ever wanted their acknowledgement, their approval, their acceptance. Every time Naruto went up and asked his parents they would just tell him to leave them alone and continue to focus on Hitomi's training, since they believed that she needed it more since she had the Kyuubi sealed into her six years ago on the day of her birth.

Even his own godparents, Jiraiya and Tsunade, in their eyes he wasn't worth their time.

Finally after being rejected by the last time, Naruto took it upon himself to get stronger. He went to the village's former Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi for training. The kind old man had readily agreed. Unlike the villagers who had seen Naruto as a demon, and unlike his family who had seen him only as a burden, Sarutobi had been the only one to see Naruto as what he truly was; a child in need.

Over the next two years, Naruto improved at a rate that left the Sandaime flabbergasted. His taijutsu was obviously strong but underdeveloped though that was only a matter of finding a suitable style to complement his abilities. In terms of his Ninjutsu however, Sarutobi was positive there had never been a greater genius in the history of Konohagakure. He had mastered Kage Bushin within a matter of minutes and from there, it was only a matter of creating clones to accelerate his growth even further.

A few months after Sarutobi began training him, Naruto met Uchiha Itachi who had found him during one of his training exercises and watched in silence. He was impressed by Naruto's determination and hard work and eventually began talking to Naruto. This eventually led to Naruto's introduction to the Uchiha clan. It was then that Naruto met the Itachi's younger sister, Satsuki.

The two had quickly struck up a rivalry with one another, always competing to see who could outdo the other in both training and sparring. They had even bet on who could utilize their elemental affinities first. Naruto had lost only by a few days when he mastered his first wind jutsu, Fūton: Daitoppa, while Satsuki had mastered her first fire, Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. The two had promised each other that day that they would one day fight in the future to see who was truly stronger than the other. Mikoto, the mother of both Satsuki and Itachi thought it was kind of cute and came to enjoy Naruto's presence within the compound.

Naruto's presence within the Uchiha compound brought a new dynamic to the once reclusive clan. While many of the other Uchihas disapproved of Satsuki's attachment to the demon container, her relationship with someone who was considered to be a pariah of the village set a precedent that began a trend for many members of the clan to befriend and associate with outside members of the village. Time passed and many of the more liberal members of the clan began sympathizing with the young boy. They realized that, much like Naruto, the Uchihas were also often treated as outsiders based on events neither of them could control. While a few more conservative elders like Fugaku objected to his presence within the Uchiha walls, their protests were often pushed down by members like Mikoto, Satsuki, and Itachi.

Under both Itachi and Hiruzen, and now having found a rival within Satsuki, Naruto's growth improved by leaps and bounds. It was only natural then however, that Naruto's desire to improve, to search for more jutsu to learn, led him to sneak into the Namikaze library to research his father's Ransengan, a jutsu that he felt was his birthright. And he was caught red handed by his parents. The result was a thunderous backhand across his face that sent him flying into the adjacent wall.

"You stupid little bastard, what the hell are you thinking pulling such a stunt?" Minato yelled.

"You worthless piece of scum, how dare you take something without permission," this time it was Kushina who said this, "we give you everything that you need, a roof to sleep under, the clothes on your back, and we feed you, and this is how you repay us, we told you that you would start your training when the academy begins, but no you go and steal from us just to try and get us to train you. We're training your sister so she can harness the power of the Kyuubi so it won't be a threat to her when she's older but you on the other hand don't need the training. NOW GO TO YOUR ROOM AND STAY THERE!"

Tears had begun to fall from his eyes, he had never been screamed at like that, his parent's hated him there was nothing more to it.

"You heard your mother, get up and go to your room and you're not getting any dinner," Minato said harshly, "GO!"

Naruto scrambled to get up and run but not before screaming at his family, "I HATE YOU ALL." With that Naruto ran into the house and headed straight for his room, his family stood stunned at the last thing they were told. They felt a slight pang of pain in their chest for some reason.

o0o

Later that night after dinner had ended; Minato and Kushina were in their bedroom thinking about what had transpired earlier that day.

"You know, I think that we overreacted with the way we treated Naruto," Kushina said as she put on her night gown.

"Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have hit him but I was terrified when I saw him trying to learn such a dangerous jutsu by himself like that," Minato said as he laid on the bed, "he could have gotten himself killed for all we know."

"Maybe but I think it's our fault too, I mean he's been asking us to train him along with Hitomi for years now, yet we ignored him," Kushina said joining her husband on the bed, "maybe we should help him a little, I mean let's at least teach him the basic and some low level ninjutsu and some taijutsu."

"I guess we should, I'll have a shadow clone start teaching him tomorrow," Minato said as he turned to look at the red hair woman, "hopefully he will forgive us, no, I'm sure he'll forgive us if I properly teach him my Rasengan."

"Yes, I'm sure he will honey, now let's go to sleep," his wife said as she closed her eyes.

o0o

Naruto sat on his bed tears streaming down his face; he still couldn't believe what his father had done to him. Sure he went and took a scroll to learn from however, that was no reason to hit him that hard, all this came to hit with a simple answer, all his parents cared for was Hitomi. Yeah that was right they hated him because of that Kyuubi brat Hitomi, this wasn't his family no, these people hated him. Standing up from his bed he took the decision to leave this godforsaken place and began sealing his belongings into a simple scroll. It did not take long since he had never owned much to begin with. After all, his parents had never bought anything for him.

Within minutes Naruto was already running down the path, already a pretty good distance away from Konoha. 'I really need to thank Itachi-nii and Sarutobi-jiji for all that training one day?' Naruto thought.

Tears were still streaming down his face blurring his vision and before he knew it he had slammed into someone on the road sending them both tumbling into the ground.

"Ow! What the hell?!" Naruto yelled angrily at the man he had run into.

"That's my line brat!" the interloper yelled back. "Who in blazes are you running around like that in the middle of the night?"

"Isn't it manners to give your own name before demanding the names of others?" Naruto growled.

"Who am I?" The man asked as though Naruto had just said the stupidest thing in the world. He struck a pose, left hand on his hip and the right pointing towards the sky. "I am Wizard Marshall Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg! Master of the Kaleidoscope and adventurer extraordinaire! "

Silence followed the man's exclamation, save for a few crickets still humming in the night. Naruto looked at the man as though he was crazy, which he indeed thought he was. He decided to give voice that particular thought. "You're insane!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the man accusingly. "There's no such thing as magic!"

"Do not take me for a conjurer of cheap tricks!" Zelratch yelled, shamelessly quoting a popular fantasy franchise. "I am the Sorcerer of Second Magic and complete master of the infinite multiverse!"

"Well, why don't you prove it to me _Mr. Magician_?" Naruto deadpanned, baring his teeth.

"I would." Zelratch declared, still glaring. "But I'm having trouble finding an alternate life in the multiverse that's shittier than your current one. It really sucks to be you." He admitted reluctantly.

Naruto merely snorted.

This was bad, Zeltrech realized. He was beginning to lose face here. Quickly he ran through the kaleidoscope until he came to a complete stop at one in particular. _'Noooooo'_ he thought,_ 'This kid is HIS alternate? That's just beautiful.'_

Shirou Emiya, or more specifically Counter Guardian Emiya, a man that had fought and killed his entire life for a single ideal, always pushing forward to help others without asking for anything in return. Not once did he ever falter forging his path to become a hero, helping and saving everyone that was within his sight, not once truly valuing himself. To think that he would find an alternate of that man's soul in a completely different world, that could only mean one thing… Fun things were bound to happen.

Before Naruto could figure out what was going on the man simply pointed at him and the world around him turned red as, all of a sudden, pain erupted within his entire nervous system. He felt as though molten lead was being pouted through his veins and arteries. Clutching his head, he passed out before the man's feet.

Zeltrech scratched his chin as he reviewed the fruits of his work. Synchronicity, the phenomenon that occurs when two beings, two souls come into close contact allowing the mind and memories to mix. Using his control over the Kaleidoscope Zeltrech had forced that same phenomenon onto this boy's soul and when it came down to it the very epitome of Emiya's soul was his reality marble, Unlimited Blade Works. Yet the reality marble that was manifesting itself within this young lad now was somehow different. Theoretically Zeltrech knew it should have been impossible for Naruto to completely manifest Unlimited Blade Works within this world. Here the Rule of the World was completely different to Gaia's Domain of his own world. Instead of magic that relied on the use of mysteries and prana, this world utilized jutsu that relied on an entirely different unit of energy called chakra. Instead of circuits they had something called tenketsu points. As a result the reality marble was beginning to change, adapting itself so that it could be manifested and utilized within an entirely different environment and a different set of rules of nature. Interesting.

Time passed, until minutes became hours and Zeltrech soon lost his former interest as he began wondering if the boy would ever wake up. Personally, for a man that had travelled through multiple dimensions, fought the almighty Crimson Moon himself _in space_ and pushed back the moon from colliding into the earth, something like a stray reality marble or two really wasn't that interesting if had to wait more than one or two minutes to see its results.

"I think I may have just murdered a young child." The Sorcerer mused as he scratched his chin. "Aww, Crap… Adventuring Sorcerer Away!" And thus he made his escape opening a rift in another universe where he hopefully did not commit homicide and jumping through it.

o0o

_That night Naruto dreamed of a huge fire._

_He dreamt that he was in a town filled with screams of pain and agony._

_He walked through all of them with glassy eyes._

_Heaps of corpses surrounded him, bodies that screamed for help, yet were denied of it_

_But he knew couldn't help. He knew he couldn't stop. He felt so damned helpless, miserable with despair._

_His body was covered with burns, his head is leaking blood but he kept on walking because once he fell down, he knew he could never get up. __And so he kept on walking._

_And finally, his limbs were too tired, too damaged to physically walk any more. __So he falls…_

_He looked up on the sky, a sky that is filled with smoke and filled with screams…_

_Soon the screams become silent, and he knows he will join them. __He accepts this with calm resignation. He is going to die._

_And then he saw the face of a man, smiling. Tears of joy spilled down the side of the man's face._

_Naruto saw the smile and was filled with jealousy._

_What made them so different? How could he smile like that even though they were in the same fire? The same hell?_

_At that moment he desperately wished he could have been as happy as that man…_

o0o

Naruto suddenly bolted upright, waking up from the horrible dream. His body was completely drenched with sweat and his heart was beating as though he had just run a marathon. He woke and realized that it was already morning. A sense of dread filled him, as he began wondering if he had been caught and brought back to Konoha. He analyzed his surroundings. At first glance he could obviously tell he was inside a motel room. Suddenly the door to the room opened and a figure strode through and walked her way to the bed, where he is presently sitting upright. The figure walked in closer until Naruto could get a good look at her face. The figure was beautiful young woman, perhaps in her mid-thirties. She had short silver hair that came down to the base of her neck. Everything about her, from her stance, posture and aura just screamed kunoichi and a powerful one at that.

"Oh… You're awake." The woman knelt by the bed and placed a soft hand over Naruto's head. "It looks like you fever's gone down now. That's good." She gave him a gentle smile and placed a bowl of stir fry in front of him. "I couldn't make anything fancy without the proper ingredients but it should be enough to fill you up if you're hungry."

Naruto took the spoon to his mouth and ate for what seemed like the first time since the past week. "Good." He whispered without intending to.

"I'm glad you liked it." The woman was virtually beaming, as she sat down by the edge of the bed. "What's your name kid?" She asked once Naruto stopped eating and placed his bowl aside.

"Naruto N-" Naruto paused for a moment. "No… Just Naruto… No family name."

"Naruto… That's a good name." The woman complimented. "My name is Aozaki Mana."

A deafening silence filled the room and neither of the two talked for a few moments. Finally, after a few minutes, Naruto worked up the courage to ask. "Why did you help me?"

The newly identified Mana shrugged. "Because you looked like someone who needed it." She answered simply.

Mana was a nice person, Naruto decided. He felt that it would be alright to trust her. But at the same time, he could not be a burden to her. A kind person like her didn't deserve to be burdened by his presence.

"I should go." He whispered, slowly getting up from the bed he had slept in.

Mana frowned. "Do you have somewhere you need to go?"

Naruto, unsure on what to say, shook his head. "N-No, but… I don't want to be a burden to you…" He whispered quietly.

Upon hearing this Mana's facial expression softened a little. "You're not a burden." she told him simply. She paused for a moment as she paused and ruffled his hair for a bit, as though she was trying to find the right words to say. "When I found you in the middle of the road like that I panicked. I was scared because I thought you were dead and no child… should ever die so early in their lives. I also realized what you must have been through for you to end up where you were. When I found your pulse, I felt relieved… No, that's not right. I was happy… I was happy you were alive."

Naruto stared at the woman with wide eyes of disbelief as old memories began surfacing within his mind.

_"You'd just be a burden to your sister."_

_"You worthless piece of scum!"_

_"DIE DEMON!"_

Those were the words he had been told all his life time and time again and over time he had come to believe them. But now, here was this woman, someone who barely even knew him, telling him something completely different.

_"You're not a burden."_

_"I was happy that you were alive."_

A few concise words, but in the end they meant more to Naruto than the entire world. Tears began welling in his eyes, and slowly made their way down his cheeks as he began to cry and sob on her chest. Mana leaned down over Naruto and gave him a reassuring smile. "I won't ask or force you to tell me about who you were or where you're from. But if you have nowhere else to go… you can stay with me for as long as you'd like."

The crying lasted throughout the better part of the morning.

That night, Naruto fell asleep with Mana as they shared the same bed. Naruto's small form was virtually wrapped around Mana like an octopus as though he was afraid to let her go. He had a small smile of bliss on his face as he fell asleep. His last thought before falling into the blissful unconscious was, 'Warm…'

**Hell and Heaven: First Blade**

Minato sat behind his desk trying to do his paperwork. The key word here was 'trying' as he just placed his pen back down. Sighing in frustration he sat back into his chair and rubbed his temples. Things for him and his family and the village had gone really badly in the last five years. The day after Naruto had been caught trying to learn his Ransengan, Minato and Kushina had gone to his room in order to reconcile and offer him training only to find it completely empty. Assuming he had simply woken up and left before them, the family had continued on their day like normal, believing they could wait until he returned home that day. However, Naruto never came home that day. The day after the Sandaime had stormed into his office in rage.

o0o

Minato had been doing his paperwork in his office like he does every day, he was cursing himself for getting the mantel of the Hokage. If he wasn't the Hokage then he would be with his family right now, but Minato's thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone knocking on the door.

"Come in." said Minato before looking to see who it was. He saw Hiruzen Sarutobi coming into his office, Minato was little suprised when he saw his predecessor's face not showing any emotions; Minato knew that Hiruzen was angry he could see it in his eyes.

"What do I owe the pleasure of your visit Sarutobi-sama?" The Fourth Hokage asked.

"I want you to explain this." the previous Hokage said putting down a piece of paper on his desk, while in the meantime his emotionless facade almost showed anger.

Minato took the piece of paper and started reading it, he read it once then twice before he slammed his hands on the desk in anger.

"Is this some kind of a joke Sarutobi-sama I would never sign anything like that" Minato shouted.

"Ohh is that it, then how do you explain your signature and the Hokage stamp on it" the Professor shouted while his emotionless facade was breaking up in anger.

"I-I-I don't know" Minato said in a stuttering tone.

o0o

Somehow Naruto had filled out an emancipation form with both Minato's signature and stamp on it making it clear that Naruto had run away from home. Minato had immediately sent Anbu teams to go find Naruto around the village in hopes of finding him. When they returned empty handed his hope turned into dread and self-anger. After that he sent letters to all of the Leaf's allies asking for help in searching for Naruto and sent Jiraiya out in hopes of finding him.

Minato sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Ever since Naruto left Konohagakure, his life had taken a completely downhill turn. When they had learned of Naruto's disappearance, Kushina and Hitomi had broken down in tears. Initially, Kushina had demanded that she be let out of Konoha to look for Naruto. Minato had argued against it stating that it wouldn't make a difference since he had already sent out several ANBU teams and they had no idea where Naruto was to begin with. Kushina had sent him into a wall with a chakra powered punch when he said that. The following day, Kushina had virtually ransacked the house looking for something, anything that may have evidenced the fact that Naruto had once lived there, only to find nothing. There were no photos of Naruto. Besides a few early baby photos, every family photo included only Hitomi, Minato and herself, along with Jiraiya and Tsunade on occasion. Kushina had tried looking for his belongings next, but the search had turned out just as fruitless as the first. Neither she, nor anyone else to her knowledge had ever given him anything, not even for his birthdays.

Sadly, Kushina remembered how she screamed at Naruto the day before he had left, about how they had provided everything for him and given him everything. The irony was that in reality they had given him virtually nothing. Not an ounce of love, not a second of attention, or a single gift, hell she couldn't even remember if he had eaten with them during meal times. Fully realizing the impact of what she had done Kushina spent most of her time in Naruto's room, crying to herself in his bed unable to forgive herself for the atrocity she had committed.

If that wasn't bad enough however, the final culmination of the Namikaze's misfortune occurred last year when he had tried to teach Hitomi the Ransengan. After Naruto's departure, Hitomi had fallen into a state of depression. She never hated her brother, on the contrary she loved him very much to the point it teetered between sibling love and incestuous relations. She had always known full well how her parent's discrimination against her brother left him alone and in pain. However the rigorous training regimen her father had put her through often left her little time to try and reach out to her brother. Yet during the few times she had paid attention to him, she found him to by a kind and gentle person despite all the painful experiences he had endured. Since the day of Naruto's departure, Minato had put Hitomi through an even more rigorous training program in hopes of stopping her from falling into depression. Unfortunately it had never really worked and instead seemed to backfire as she grew even more depressed.

She had advanced through the first stage of the ransengan, which emphasized chakra rotation, within a week. When she began learning the second stage of his jutsu, however, things had gone wrong. She had enormous trouble focusing denser chakra within her hand. As she began her third try however, a pulse of demonic chakra had begun leaking out of the seal. Hitomi had screamed in agony as seal began burned through her skin. Before Minato could even try to repair the seal, red chakra that had leaked out of her seal rapidly grew to a cascade and began taking shape into the chakra form of the Kyuubi no Yoko. The beast let out one final roar before it vanished in a red flash.

When the dust settled, everyone had gathered around the demolished Namikaze estate. Thankfully no body had been killed or seriously hurt by the giant explosion of chakra. Hitomi however suffered terribly from the explosion. She had lied still unconscious inside a crater, smoke still steaming off of her seal which had burned itself into her skin, never to go away. She had been a ghostly shade of white having lost gallons of blood and not only that but she was no longer the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi's chakra.

Minato sighed. In the aftermath of the Kyubei's release, Hitomi's chakra coils had been severely damaged. Along with losing the Kyuubi's chakra, she no longer possessed her vast reserves of chakra, a trait shared by all Uzumakis. For all practically purposes, Hitomi now possessed similar reserves to that of a ninja coming from a civilian family. It was as though the heavens themselves had been punishing the Namikazes for what they had done to Naruto. Minato sighed, shaking his head to get the depressing thoughts out of his head. He had a meeting with the Kazekage later today and he needed make sure he wasn't completely depressed for it. A Hokage's work never waits after all.

o0o

The meeting with the Kazekage itself went by very quickly. In the end, it was only a simple revision of their former treaty based around limiting Konoha's economic activities within Kaze no Kuni. After the Kazekage signed his name onto the now renewed treaty, rather than making a move to leave he waited patiently in his chair waiting to gain Minato's attention.

"Before I go," Subaku no Kanbei stated as he leaned back into the chair and stared at Minato. "Your son was spotted near the borders of Sunagakure a little over one month ago."

Minato's eyes widened momentarily but for the most part was able hide his surprise. "I see…" Minato said carefully waiting for the Kazakage to go on.

"It seems he had something of a scuffle with my son during one of their patrol missions.

"Which son did he fight?" Minato asked, fearing the worst. Gaara Subaku, the Jinchuuriki for the Ichibi was one of the worst kept secret weapons of the elemental nations. He was notorious for his psychotic rampages and insane lust for blood.

"My youngest son, Gaara." The Kazekage informed, confirming his fears. "Though," he added with a touch of amusement. "Calling it a scuffle may be an understatement considering he had to battle Gaara's fully transformed state."

"What!" This time he wasn't able to hide his shock at all. "What happened? Is he alright? Where is he now?" It wasn't until he noticed the small smile on the Kazekage's lips did he realize he had just completely lost his composure in front of a visiting kage. Cursing to himself mentally he forced himself to calm down and waited for the Kazekage to begin speaking once more.

Still sporting a slight grin, Subaku resumed once more answering each question in turn. "Your son defeated Gaara and made his escape before the first squad arrived at the scene. I would assume that he was alright considering he was able to avoid being caught by all of the retrieval squads I had sent out after him. As for where he is now, I would not know."

Minato nodded. It wasn't much but at least he now knew Naruto was still alive. With some luck and Jiraiya's spy network they should be able to pick up his trail, find him and hopefully convince him to come back home to Konoha. "Thank you, Kazekage-sama, I will not forget this."

Sabaku shrugged, brushing off the gesture. "Do not thank me Hokage-sama. Rather, I should be the one thanking Naruto. After his fight with Naruto, Gaara has changed and become much calmer since then. I look forward to meeting him when the time comes."

o0o

For the first time in years, Minato Namikaze was actually looking forward to going home. He was anxious to tell Kushina the news and contact Jiraiya so that they could get on Naruto's trail as soon as possible. When he arrived home however, back to the newly rebuilt Namikaze estate, he was surprised to find both Jiraiya and Tsunade already there. He invited the two to dinner and once they sat down at the table he told Kushina what he had learned from the Kazekage earlier that day.

Jiraiya grinned. "I'm already one step ahead of you Minato. Do you know the bridge that was completed two weeks ago in Nami no Kuni (Wave Country). They're calling it the Great Aozaki Naruto Bridge. I think it might have been named after him. Naruto isn't exactly a common name after all."

"He changed his name?" Kushina asked, hurt evident within her eyes. "…I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised should I." she said sadly. "It's not like we were ever real parents to him."

Minato went over to Kushina and placed a hand on her shoulder making her look at him and said to her, "Kushina I said that I wouldn't give up on Naruto until I brought him back and I intend to do just that. We will make things right again I promise."

Kushina looked up and smiled hopeful that they would make it up to Naruto and that return everything was finally going to start getting better again after this whole ordeal is over. "Do you know what happened?" She asked, her curiosity leading her to wonder exactly what Naruto had done to get a bridge named after him.

"Well, have you heard of the shipping magnate known as Gato." Jiraiya asked, making those around him collectively nod. "Well it turns out that he was also an extremely powerful crime lord. Slavery, drug-running, smuggling, you name it, any form of illegal shipping and movement can be traced back to him and his company."

"What does this have to do with Nami no Kuni?"

"About a year ago," Jiraiya explained, "This little bastard started an entire monopoly on the imports and exports of Nami no Kuni. After that he began starving the entire island to bring it under his control. He pretty much crushed anyone that tried to resist him, hell he even publicly executed a few guys just to show the people what happens to anyone that tries to mess with him."

"Sounds like a bright little ray of sunshine." Tsunade commented dryly.

Jiraiya nodded. "There was one way to break Gato's monopoly though. A man named Tazuna began building a bridge to connect the small island with the mainland. It was their only hope for the people of Nami no Kuni to start up trade again and break Gatō's stranglehold on their nation."

"I know that name." Minato spoke up suddenly, his eyes lighting up in recognition. "He came to the Konoha a few weeks ago and hired a small gennin team for a C-Rank mission."

"What happened?" Kushina asked.

"It turned out Tazuna had lied about the difficulty of the mission." Minato recounted somberly, "They were ambushed by the Oni Kyodai (Demon Brothers), and a genin got killed in the process. After that the jonin sensei found out what was going on and realized they would be facing the Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Mist). They aborted the mission and came back to Konoha. I assumed Tazuna was killed after that."

"Well…" Jiraiya intervened continuing the story from there, "It turns out Naruto came across him while the man was trying to sneak his way back into Nami no Kuni. After hearing him out, Naruto agreed to escort him back home and protect him until the bridge was completed. After that, the accounts become a little dubious but if my informants in that area are to be believed he fought Zabuza Momochi and his accomplice _twice_ and won. Then after that he killed Gato along with his entire mercenary army just to wrap it up."

As Jiraiya finished his narrative the people around him were gaping like fish. "He fought an A-ranked nuke-nin and won!" Kushina asked in shock. Even Minato, who already had some idea of Naruto's combat prowess from the Kazekage's account of his fight with Gaara, was still surprised that his son could already beat such a notorious ninja.

Jiraiya nodded in confirmation. "Apparently he beat Zabuza and his apprentice but decided to spare them both. After that he followed the two to Mizu no Kuni. (Land of Water)"

"Mizu no Kuni! As in Kirigakure (Village of the Mist)?!" Minato shouted. "Aren't they in the middle of a civil war right now?"

"I honestly doubt he went there just to sight see." Jiraiya noted. "And judging by the company he's following I'd bet my entire Icha Icha series he's probably going to join the rebel side. Zabuza Momochi is a pretty infamous enemy of Yagura after all."

Kushina was conflicted. On one hand she felt a touch of pride that her son had done something noble like liberating a nation, but a part of her was also sad when she realized that her son had gone through already, killing and risking his life at such a young age. Naruto was no longer an innocent child she could coddle the way she should have and it hurt her to know that she had completely missed his childhood

Shaking the depressing thoughts out of her head, Kushina stood up from where she was sitting and slammed her hands down on the coffee table in front of her. "Well what are we waiting for?" she demanded "Let's got bring Naru-chan back."

Minato shook his head. "It's a little more complicated than that Kushina. Kiri is in the middle of a civil war right now. If we send a squad inside their territory it might very well spark a war between Konoha and Kiri."

Kushina swung around to face Minato directly. "Minato Namikaze, are you saying we should just sit here and do nothing while our son is stuck in the middle of a bloody civil war?!" She yelled angrily, glaring at Minato with a look that promised much pain, if he didn't answer with great caution.

"Of course not." Minato raised both hands to make a conciliatory gesture, "But the fact remains that we still don't know Naruto's specific location right now." Hearing Kushina growl, Minato immediately sped up, in a slightly higher pitched tone. "I'm just suggesting we wait until Jiraiya finds out exactly where he is, before going in and getting him out." He finished quickly.

"I'm going to be on that team and we're going to be setting out the minute we find out where he is." Kushina informed him in a voice that brooked no argument.

Fearing for the existence of his manhood, Minato mutely nodded, thought secretly he worried for the safety of his wife. It had been years after all, since Kushina had been in the field. Already he began wondering who to assign to this mission to accompany her.

Mollified, Kushina sat back down in her seat and sighed sadly, her mind worrying if she would ever see her son again._ 'Naruto please be alright'_

o0o

Naruto leaped over the fence into the camp, his silhouette nothing more than a blur against the moonlight. His crimson coat was completely soaked in blood, though none of it was his own. Around him sounds of battle were raging on as steel clashed again steel and men cried out as fatal blows cut into their flesh. From the darkness two Kiri nins flanked him from both sides, hoping to ambush him. Naruto jumped, twisting his body in the air and narrowly dodging both swords that had moved to slice him in half. He traced Kanshou in his left hand and Bakuya in his right, and thrust them both into the chests of these attackers, all in the same motion of his dodge.

Landing gracefully on his feet, Naruto continued to run forward as though he had never been stopped in the first place. Seeing a group of enemies a short distance away, he jumped high into the air before landing in their midst. Before any of them could react he traced several swords around himself and launched them simultaneously in all directions, killing many of the ninja in the process. He then finished of the remaining enemy by tracing a new set of the yin and yang swords and systemically killing them one by one.

After finishing off the last soldiers, Naruto stopped and took his signature stance, readying himself for more attackers to jump out at him. When none came and the clearing was silent, he reinforced his sight and hearing to better take in his surroundings. For the most part, the defenders were falling back into the small fortress in the middle of the camp. He heard the small pattering sound of running behind him and turned around to see Haku, Zabuza and Suigetsu leap into the ring of corpses he had been standing in.

"Well?" Naruto asked them.

"It's as bad as we knew it would be." Zabuza told him gruffly. "This is a concentration camp for bloodline clans. A fucking slaughter house to kill them off nice, slow and systematically." Zabuza shook his head. "Shit gaki there are things in here that even I wouldn't do." Coming from a guy that slaughtered his entire academy class to graduate that said _a lot_.

Naruto nodded, doing his best to ignore that nagging sadness he felt at being unable to have saved many of the people here. No, he knew he could never have been able to save all of them in the first place. The important thing was to save those he still could. "We should hurry before the enemy have chance to regroup. Where are the prisoners being held?"

The question was directed at Suigetsu who pointed towards the west wing of the camp. "My clan and most of the others were kept there. Come on, I'll lead you there."

The four quickly ran through the camp killing anyone who was foolish enough to get in their way. They made their way to a section of the camp that contained several rows of buildings that looked more like warehouses or barns rather than human settlements. Naruto kicked the nearest door open. Slight illumination from the stars along with reinforced eyes gave a clear view of what was inside.

Though the building itself was fairly large it was impossible to tell from the inside. Every inch of space had been used to cramp stalls upon stalls against one another. Yes, stalls, the kind that were used to house animals rather than human beings. While the building itself looked as though it would collapse at any minute, its inhabitants looked far worse. All of them wore a standard gray prison outfit with a long sleeved shirt and long gray trousers with straw sandals; they also had steel collars around her neck with special seals placed on it so that it would suppress their chakra, effectively stopping them from using ninjutsu. Naruto knew it was also designed to paralyze its victim or explode depending on how the guards chose to activate it or if anyone less than a seal master carelessly tried tamper with it. However what struck Naruto the most was their conditions. Their faces were pale from malnutrition and lack of exposure to sunlight. They were skinny. He could see their cheekbones and their shirts, as thread bare as they may have been, looked far too big on them. It was the view of a people that had been overworked and deliberately starved for years.

"Su… Suigetsu is that you?"

"Jiji!" The blue haired swordsman blurred past Naruto towards an elderly old man.

"I was wondering what the ruckus was outside." The now identified Hozuki laughed. "I never dreamed you of all people would come back here."

"It wasn't just me" Suigetsu shook his head and gestured towards where Naruto was standing. "I was also saved."

Naruto kept his face impassive, giving nothing away as the old man turned to study him. At long last the Hozuki head simply shrugged. "I don't care." He stated simply. "I had enough of this god-forsaken place. Free us. I'd much rather die facing Yagura than return here."

A slight smile touched Naruto's face. "That's a good attitude old man… But first we need to get those collars off you." He turned Zabuza and Haku. "Raid the supply depots for food and start handing out soldier pills to the prisoners. That way we won't have to worry about them dying from indigestion and they'll hopefully have enough strength to haul ass out of this dump. Once you've done that, Haku and Suigetsu will organize a retreat back to the hideout. Zabuza, you're coming with me. Meet me in front of the keep in twenty minutes."

Zabuza raised a brow. "Why? You're not planning to do something stupid again are you?"

Naruto whirled around at the swordsman. "Zabuza, if I told you I was about to do the stupidest and most reckless thing in the history of stupidity and recklessness would that deter you from going along with it anyways?"

"… You're just saying that to entice me aren't you?"

"That's what I thought."

Quickly, those around him began shuffling out to carry out his commands. As they did, Naruto took a moment to step back and sigh. It had been five years since he had run away from Konoha, five years since he had met Mana and five years since those dreams began and ended, dreams of the red knight from who he had borrowed his jutsus. In the dreams he had watched, no, Naruto _was_ the red knight, watching the man's life and adventures through the knight's eyes as though they were his own. He had watched the man grow up with the ideals he had borrowed from his adopted father, fight tooth and nail to survive trough the secret war and dedicate the rest of his life saving and protecting the lives of others, not once giving a damn about his own. In a way, he admired the red knight, ignoring loss and gain, never compromising his principles even at the cost of his own humanity. But in the end he had died, betrayed by the very people he had saved, blamed for the very wars he had ended and was executed as a villain. His heroic actions destined to be seen as fanatical terrorism by those that could never understand why he was so willing to risk his life for others. Yet the knight had died with a smile on his face. It was a calm relaxed smile as he accepted his end, not a single regret rested in his heart. Back then, Naruto couldn't understand how the red knight could accept such a terrible end so easily but more and more he was starting to understand the red knight's smile.

o0o

Unmo Samidare was not having a good day. He had been assigned to be the supervisor of this camp for a short mandatory routine tour. He had not enjoyed doing many of things he had done here but orders were orders and in the end it was usually his life over someone else's since Yagura was not the kind of leader that would tolerate disobedience or failure. As disagreeable as the work may have been, it should also have been safe, easy and simple. None of those words described the situation he was in now. His battle honed instincts had woken him up in the dead of night to the metallic smell blood and he had looked out the window of his room to see his men being slaughtered. It wasn't difficult to deduce who his enemy was. Their Kirigakure headbands and intended targets were a dead giveaway that they were Kiri rebels. If anything though Samidare wanted to know why the hell the rebels were active all of a sudden when they had been virtually nonexistent in Kiri for that past two years!

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw two lone figures walking towards the steel walled keep as though they were out for a leisurely walk. They stopped well within shuriken or kunai throwing range, not that anyone would have been stupid enough to try to attack men who were obviously messengers in their predicament, but the pair's absolute confidence in their current wellbeing was downright demoralizing. It wasn't difficult for Samidare to recognize Zabuza Momochi, the notorious Kirigakure no Kijin, but the person next to him was a complete mystery. He was young; that was the first though that struck Samidare. He couldn't have been much older than a rookie genin and yet he held himself as though he had been born to be on the battlefield. The figure, Samidare couldn't bring himself to call him a boy, had golden blonde locks that came down over frigid blue eyes, that sent chills down anyone who looked too deeply into them. He wore red overcoat, though Samidare noted bitterly that it could have just been the blood of all guards he had seen the monster kill during the initial attack.

"Hello, future victims!" The crimson clad blonde cheerfully called from below. "I thought I should let you know… that the prisoners in this camp, including the Hozuki clan and various other clans have been freed! Right now, they are eating to regain their strength! But you can be sure once they're done they'll hunt you down and kill every last one of you! If you surrender though, we'll let you go free and you might be able to escape before they finish their meal! Make your choice quickly though, because you don't have much time!"

In the end, it wasn't much of a choice. The camp itself held no strategic value and the rebels had already completed their main objectives. The loyalists knew that if they died there their deaths would have been meaningless and they would have no doubt died painful deaths at the hands of their former captives. Quickly the Kiri nins made their choice. They surrendered their weapons and began running out of the camp. Watching the backs of the fleeing ninja, Naruto's eyes drifted over the Zabuza.

"Don't." he said making the Demon of the Mist jerk in surprise.

"You noticed." It was not a question.

Naruto nodded "We gave our word that we would spare them, so we will." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Besides we need them to run away. If they had stayed there's a chance they might have been able follow us back to our base. It's not like we can move quickly with half-starved prisoners after all. This way, they'll spread word of what we've done here and make people realize how quickly Yagura's authority is falling apart."

Zabuza chuckled. "Sorry, I guess old habits die hard. This was the job I had back when I still Yagura's dog after all. Hehe."

Naruto turned and looked Zabuza straight in the eyes. "You are no one's dog, not anymore. This is our fight, no one else's… so we will fight it the way we choose."

Zabuza's eyes widened for a brief moment before staring back at Naruto impassively once more. Having said his fill, Naruto turned around and walked back towards the section of the camp where the prisoners were being freed from their bonds in order to see what he could do to help. For a while complete silence dominated the camp. From a small inconspicuous puddle lying on the ground not too far away, The Demon Brothers, Gozu and Meizu silently emerged like shadows.

"Zabuza-sama, should we hunt them down?" Meizu asked, curious as to why his leader had not already given the signal to attack.

Zabuza seemed to consider the choice for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah," He drawled nonchalantly, "We'll let them live for today. Come on, let's get back to the others."

He turned and began walking in the direction Naruto had gone, his back already receding into the distance.

Years later, the prisoners of Camp 11 would reflect upon this moment and realize how absurd the situation must have seemed, to have not even hesitated to follow the orders a mere boy they had never even met before. Yet that boy carried some kind of aura within him, wielding charisma in such a way that compelled the prisoners to accept his commands without question. As one Hozuki would later comment, 'I followed the crimson knight, out of the concentration camp and into battle, not because of any reason or logical thought, but out of instinct. It was as though every fiber of my being was screaming at me to follow this man. I'm not sure why I did… but maybe… maybe it's because I somehow knew I was about to witness the birth of a great legend.'


	2. Hell and Heaven: Second Blade

**General RTS:** Holy freaking crap!_ 12 thousand words!_ This is without a doubt the longest chapter I have ever written... _ever._ A lot of things happen in this segment of our story. I placed the rest of the Author's Note at the bottom of the chapter, something I don't usually do but I didn't want those spoilers lessening the impact of the next few scenes. Just so you know I won't be able to update often over the next few months due to the fact that I'm a college student and I'm really busy with school work. I will can usually only write during the breaks or during long weekends, so the majority of my updates will be during the breaks. I'm already working on chapter 3 so expect that sometime in early April but after that the next opportunity for me to write will be in late May so you could probably expect chapter 4 during early to mid June or so. On another note you'll find a placed a reference to an OST (original soundtrack) for one of the scenes at the bottom. I usually don't do this but there were times in writing this story I just had a tune stuck in my head for a particular scene and I later found out I pretty much based the dynamics of that said scene around the tune I was thinking about at that time. Also, I introduced a new sword in this chapter , one that will come up alot during future chapters. For those of you who want to know what Hiryu looks like, I imagined it off of the Ripstik.

* * *

**Hell and Heaven: Second Blade**

A small boat moved quietly across the misty water, its light grey hull blending in nearly perfectly with the foggy background. Upon the bow of the small schooner, Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze leaned forward on the rails and sighed as she looked into the thick curtain of the impenetrable mist. It had been _two whole months_, before Jiraiya had returned to Konoha with more information about Naruto and the current situation in Kiri, and the news wasn't good. It seemed the Village of the Bloody Mist had somehow become even bloodier in the recent weeks. All over the map, rebel forces that had laid dormant only weeks before had suddenly taken up the fight once more against Yagura, attacking peripheral ninja outposts and performing nuisance raids against the Mizukage's supply lines. The rebel forces themselves were divided up into several separate factions distinguished by numerous different clans and organizations, all with different interests. At the center of these groups was the small group known as the Burēbusu (Braves). They were neither the largest of the group of the rebels nor the most dangerous but they _were_ the most notorious. They were the ones that attacked the most strongly fortified positions, took on the most dangerous tasks and had the greatest successes compared to the rest. What was most striking about this particular group was that they seemed to be more focused on saving people more than just killing enemies. Sometimes, people needed a symbol of hope, and they had become that symbol. Surprisingly they were led by Zabuza Momochi, the Kirigakure no Kijin and someone they now called the Shinkushi(Crimson Death). Jiraiya's contacts had told him that a boy matching Naruto's description had been spotted amongst this same group. A part of Kushina was excited to see her son again, to have a chance to finally apologize for everything she did and didn't do and mend broken bridges. But the other half of her was scared; scared of what he may have become, of how he may react when he sees her.

Behind her, the team Minato had assembled to bring Naruto home rested on different parts of the ship. Kakashi stood leaning against the mast, his signature orange Icha Icha book pulled out and stuffed in front of his face though the lack of perverted giggles and an occasional fidget told Kushina that he felt far more anxiety than he would have preferred displaying. It made sense that the Yondaime Hokage would send his last surviving student for this mission. Kakashi was a tracking specialist and a powerful shinobi in his own right. Closer to the stern of the ship Jiraiya, much like Kushina, was leaning against the rails looking uncharacteristically worried as he waited for the ship to make port. Near him, Uchiha Itachi sat cross-legged with his eyes closed in complete silence. He had stayed in that position the entire voyage so far and showed no signs of moving. The final addition to the five man team was resting in his cabin below on the lower decks of the ship. Like Itachi, Sarutobi Hiruzen had also volunteered for the mission once he had heard of it. Both Minato and Kushina were more than a little shocked to see the legendary Shinobi no Kami come out of retirement to go find his surrogate grandson.

After a few more hours of sailing the small schooner stopped about a mile away from shores of Kiri. The five ninja jumped off the ship and used water walking to run across the surface of the sea and reach land, so that their movements would be inconspicuous. They stopped outside a medium sized town. From there Jiraiya went off alone to meet the contact that had given him the information. It was a fairy normal procedure for a mission but each member of the five man squad had personal feelings about the mission and that turned their anxiety into restlessness. About an hour later, Jiraiya came walking back, a frown on his face.

"This isn't good." He told them as soon as he reached their location. "According to my contact, the rebel forces are already on the move. Apparently they're gathering together in order to try to coordinate their efforts against Yagura."

Sarutobi frowned. "This does complicate things." he agreed. "If the rebels of Kiri are gathering for an attack against Yagura then our window for the mission will be far more limited than we thought. With the area far more hostile, both sides will have their forces on full alert so we will have to be careful."

Jiraiya nodded. "If there _is_ a battle though, then there's a good chance that we'll find Naruto there. The problem is getting close enough to convince him come home without actually getting caught up in the fight."

"What do we do then?" Kushina asked, deferring the decision to the former Hokage, who was by far the most senior member of the group and therefore the squad leader by default.

"In order to find Naruto, we will have to get in contact with the rebels." Hiruzen decided. "Jiraiya, do you know where the rebels are gathering?"

Jiraiya nodded. "They're supposed to meet somewhere near the Sanada mountains, towards the East. We should be able to get there by tomorrow morning if we push the pace."

"Then let's go." Kushina stated, already running off in that direction.

o0o

Night had fallen hours ago, but for the squad of high level ninja moving at a pace which would have left most chunin puking from exertion, it was nothing more than a walk in the park. They weaved their way around the trees occasionally stopping to hide from a stray Kiri patrol now and then. As Kushina ran a strange yet familiar sensation alerted her senses and she along with the rest of the group slowed to stop.

"Did you sense it as well?" Hiruzen asked, quietly. Nodding heads answered his question. Closing her eyes Kushina extended her senses to take in the little details around her.

Screaming. That was the first thing she noticed right of the bat. It was very faint, probably about a few miles or so away from their current position. The second thing she noticed was the smell of burning flesh and fire.

"There's something going on up ahead." Jiraiya confirmed. "From the looks of it, it could be a battle. Should we go check it out?"

"Is that wise?" Kakashi asked. "Drawing ourselves into a battle?"

"If there is a battle it's likely to be between the rebels and the loyalists." Hiruzen deduced. "Depending on what happens, we might be able to follow them to the location of the gathering."

Unanimously agreed, the group moved towards where they had sensed the fire, expecting a battle of some sort. What they found, however, wasn't a battle. It was a massacre. A small village had been set ablaze its inhabitants currently being rounded up and being dragged into the Konoha team crept around the edges of the clearing, careful to conceal their presence and hide their chakra signature as they observed the situation. At the head of the Kirin nins Jiraiya spotted Jinpachi Munashi and Kushimaru Kuriarare of the Legendary Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Though they could not hear exactly what was being said from their vantage point, however, whatever had been said it didn't seem to be enough to spare the villagers as the two swordsmen began indiscriminately killing the villagers en masse. Kushimaru used his signature Nuibaru to pierce through several people and used his wires to tie them together like rag dolls, letting them die slow and painful deaths as they were crushed in the mass of writhing bodies. Jinpachi's Shibuki was just as, if not more, brutal that the other, using his explosive sword to create a swathe of flying body parts and bloody flesh.

Both swordsmen carried identical expressions. They were the expressions of someone who were used to unleashing great amounts of agony and pain on their victims, and were absolutely getting off in doing so. Kushina gripped down on her katana until her knuckles turned white. Only the knowledge that killing the two murderers would result in an international war between Kiri and Konoha, thereby botching any possibility of being reunited with her son stopped her from interfering with the massacre. Fortunately, someone else was willing to do exactly that.

"Hrunting." The word had not been yelled or shouted and yet it had somehow echoed around the entire clearing. Immediately, a red light flashed across the air so quickly that many who had witnessed it wondered if they had really even seen it in the first place. Jinpachi paused for a moment to blink and then looked to his chest to see a gaping hole in the middle where his heart should have been. The surprise attack had its intended effects as the rest of the shinobi in the clearing stared at their leader in a mixture shock and disbelief. Before any of them could make a single comment a rain of swords came flying down upon them. Most of the ninja there had enough common sense to dodge through the air though a few reacted too slowly and were cut down by the onslaught. As they landed, chaos erupted as members of the Hozuki clan began rising up from the ground from small puddles of water and attacked. Battle raged as rebel forces took on the remaining loyalists.

Kushimaru whipped through his enemies using his signature Nuibari to piercing through several rebels and using ninja wire to crucify them on the nearest given surface. He was forced to duck however, performing a near perfect split, as a man sized Kubikiribōchō cut through where his torso had once been.

"Zabuza." The masked shinobi stated. "It's been some time. I never thought you of all people would run around the Mist selflessly saving the lives of others. What happened, did you finally find a donor to get that heart transplant you've always wanted?"

The former member of the seven swordsman smirked under his mask of bandages. "Funny. I'll have you know this wasn't exactly my idea. But unfortunately our leader has something of a hero complex and I'm just going along with it."

"Ah, the infamous Shinkushi." Kushimaru chuckled. "It's a shame. I was interested in crossing blades with the man that could apparently get you to follow him. Who knows? Maybe I'll get the pleasure of hunting him down after I kill you."

"Why wait?" a voice from behind him asked. Kushimaru's instincts kicked in and he leaped to the side just as black falchion nearly cut off his arm from behind. He turned around to face this new opponent. A boy in red wielding a set of falchions, one of darkness and another of light, stood before him. His mop of golden locks were as bright as the sun. His blue eyes were cold glaciers that bore into the figure in front of him. "You can face me right now."

Kushina's heart stopped when she saw Naruto for the first time in five years. It was the first real look she had bothered to give her son since the day she had first held her twins in her arms thirteen years ago. An onrush of emotion flooded he heart, joy, pain, relief and regret, as she watched her sochi stare down one the Legendary Swordsmen of the mist. For the rest of the Konoha group, to say that they were shocked would have been akin to saying that Tsunade was a little bad at gambling.

"Naruto's the Shinkushi?" Kakashi whispered in disbelief.

Jiraiya frowned knowing this would only complicate things further. You couldn't just take away a key leader in the middle of war and not expect repercussions.

Hiruzen and Itachi were the quickest to get over their surprise. The Sandaime now sported a proud smile on his face as he watched Naruto. He had always known that the boy would go on to do great things but even he never imagined that Naruto could have accomplished something like this so early in his life.

_"Naruto…you truly are the most unpredictable and surprising person I have ever met_." Itachi thought with a slight smile slightly mirroring the former Hokage's.

Zabuza glared at the new interloper. "What the hell gaki, I was fighting him!"

"Sorry Zabuza." Naruto answered, silent rage evident in his voice. There were many things in this world that could piss him off, but murdering innocent people for enjoyment was definitely near the top of the list. "But I'd like to be the one to kill him if you don't mind."

Zabuza, immediately recognizing the source of Naruto's ire took a step back and nodded. There were many things Zabuza would have risked his life for but fighting a former member of the seven wasn't one of them. _'It was nice knowing you, Kushimaru. I hope Kami has mercy on your soul because the gaki will show your body none.'_

The battle erupted and Kushimaru sprang towards and sent a sharp stab towards Naruto's unguarded vital point. Naruto blocked the sharp needle like sword with Kanshou and immediately spun around to counter with Bakuya, aiming to slice off the man's sword arm. The masked swordsman twisted his body out of the way, dropped onto the ground and tried attacking Naruto's knees. Naruto jumped and slammed both feet down on to the sword. The reinforced stomp buried the steel sword into the ground threatening to break it. In the same movement Naruto simultaneously brought down both falchions in a pincer movement towards Kushimaru's throat. Kushimaru threw his head back, feeling the swords graze across the edges of his mask, before yanking his sword out of the ground and black flipping away from the crimson clad blond in an attempt to gain some distance. Naruto didn't follow. Instead he simply returned to his earlier stance, drawing both his arms away from his torso, leaving it completely bare. It was a stance that invited attacks to the fatal openings it left and as Zaubuza best described it, 'you'd have to be bat-shit crazy motherf*cker with balls of iron to use that kind of style.' The entire exchange lasted only two or three seconds at most and now both swordsmen drew back from one another, analyzing their opponents and planning out their next moves. A breeze passed through the clearing, rustling Naruto's coat.

"Impressive," Kushimaru commented. "Not only did you stop my attacks you also managed to cut my steel wires I used to try to entangle you, at the same time." True to his word, threads of steel wire that Naruto had cut to prevent himself from being caught now littered the ground between them. "You're quite skilled for someone so young."

"Save your critiques for someone who gives a damn." The blond snarled. This time, it was Naruto that started the confrontation, projecting several nameless blades and launching them at masked swordsman forcing him to dodge to his left, leaving no avenue for escape. Naruto lunged forward to intercept him.

"Spirit and technique!" he shouted, throwing the twin swords at his opponent. The spinning black and white blades circled around at Kushimaru who just barely managed to deflect both blades. "Flawless and firm." Kushimaru lunged with Nuibari and thrust it at Naruto's open throat. Naruto swayed his body to the side, barely dodging the attack as Nuibaru grazed his neck before tracing a second pair of blades and parrying it away from his throat with Bakuya. Those who watched just wondered why Naruto was reciting poetry.

"Our strength rips the mountains." Naruto continued chanting. "Our swords split the water." He thrust Kanshou at Kushimaru's chest forcing the swordsman to leap back, while taking a defensive stance. Suddenly, the pair of blades Naruto had thrown earlier came spinning back towards Kushimaru. With little time to dodge the twin blades cut through the swordsman's flesh making him gasp in pain. "Our names reach the imperial villa. The two of us cannot hold heavens together."

Naruto leaped into the air. He flooded both swords with chakra but instead of just strengthening them, he used his chakra to destabilize the very compositions of the swords themselves, the massive amounts of energy used to create those swords now a unstable existence. Before the disbelieving eyes of those who watched, the swords extend behind him, the steel growing into splintered wings making Naruto look like some kind of angel of death.

"Crane Wing Three Realm!" he shouted as he brought down both swords upon his enemy. Kushimaru's eyes widened in surprise at the oncoming attack. Having nowhere to dodge, he futilely tried to block the oncoming attack with Nuibaru. The twin swords exploded and the steel shattered, each fragment becoming a jagged knife aimed at the enemy. Kushimaru never stood a chance. His body was torn asunder as the shrapnel ripped through his flesh and sent him flying back into a collapsing house.

Tracing a new set of blades Naruto walked towards dying man. Kushimaru coughed up blood. The majority of his vital organs had either ruptured or had been completed destroyed and not even Tsunade herself could have saved him from his wounds. Looking up into the frigid eyes of his soon to be killer, he whispered. "What… are you?"

"My name is Aozaki Naruto." The Naruto answered quietly. "And I am your death."

"Aozaki?... kekeke… I see." Kushimaru smirked in amusement just before the boy swung. The entire fight had lasted less than twenty five seconds.

Silence reigned across the clearing as the lone head rolled across the ground. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed as a light breeze blew by playfully rustling his hair and coat. Even to those that had known Naruto and already watched him fight with incredible skill over the past few months, it was still quite a battle to have witnessed. For several moments, nobody spoke. They knew instinctively that somehow words would detract from the profound sense of catharsis that they all seemed to be currently sharing. Now was a time to reflect upon the battle, to think about the lives they had taken, the lives they had lost and to remind themselves just why it was they were fighting.

"Naruto!"

And just like that it was ruined. Annoyed, Naruto turned towards the sound of the voice that had called him. He had sensed the five chakra sources in the trees earlier, before he had killed Jinpachi with Hrunting. Assuming they were some kind of back up force for the Kiri nins he had waited for them to come to make their move, to come to the aid of their compatriots so that he could counter ambush them. When they continued to observe, he had switched his assumption to the role of smaller rebel factions or foreign shinobi teams sent to monitor them by neighboring Hidden Villages that must have been anxious at the recent upheaval in Kiri. He was half right. What he did not expect however was to see that woman, he refused to call her his mother, again. A flood of emotion passed through his face, sorrow, pain and then rage.

"You." He hissed, as he gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes. "You!"

A mixture of leftover adrenaline from his previous fight and his own personal emotions clouded Naruto's judgment and caused him to panic. Immediately his flight or fight instincts kicked in, and like most situations he had even felt them he chose to fight. Kushina's run slowed to a hesitant stop as Naruto let loose an uncharacteristically feral roar and lunged towards her, his twin swords, still bloodied from having killed Kushimaru, arched behind him. Naruto didn't see anyone else. He couldn't hear Sarutobi calling for him to stop. He couldn't see Itachi, Kakashi or Jiraiya already rushing forwards to stop him. All he could see or hear was the woman responsible for so much of his pain and sorrow. The woman that was partly responsible for having taken away his _real_ mother.

The reaction was immediate one both sides. Sarutobi had already summoned up his bo staff and slammed it into Naruto's abdomen, forcing the blonde's body to come to a lurching halt. Itachi got behind Naruto, grabbed his left arm and twisted it behind his back forcing him to drop Kanshou. Jiraiya also landed behind him and wrapped his arm around Naruto's neck, holding him in place. And Kakashi had pulled out a Kunai and blocked Bakuya inches away from Kushina's face. Kakashi couldn't help but notice that the white and silver falchion nearly cut all the way through the carbon steel of his own blade. The reaction of the Kiri rebels came nearly a second later. Zabuza appeared behind Itachi and Jiraiya, his Kubikiribōchō poised to cut them both in half. Haku also appeared nearby creating dozens of ice senbons around the group and Suigetsu also formed behind Kakashi, a kunai poised at his throat.

Kushina had frozen and like Naruto, was unaware of anyone else around them. She couldn't tear herself away from his eyes, terrified of what she saw within them; Hatred, anger, she had already expected those, but most of all pain, the pain of having been betrayed, the pain of having been abandoned by those you trusted. Naruto's crystal blue eyes were now the Kyuubi's red as a crimson shroud slowly began enveloping his body, his mind threatening to give into the bloodlust of the fox's chakra. The tense standoff continued for several moments when Naruto closed his eyes before finally relaxing his body. The red chakra receded and he dispelled his projections. When he opened his eyes again, they were a clear emotionless blue once more with no signs of any of the rage they had contained moments before. The rebels followed his lead a second later. Zabuza relaxed from his stance and hefted his cleaver on to his shoulder, not exactly poised to attack but still ready to strike should the need arise. Haku dropped the ice senbon and Suigetsu removed the kunai from Kakashi's throat. Hesitantly the Konoha group did the same. The entire time neither Naruto nor Kushina took their eyes off one another.

"I don't know what you're doing here," Naruto told her coldly, "And personally I don't care. If you're here to take me back to that hell hole, then you're wasting your time."

"Wait, Naruto please come home. Your parents have missed you these past five years and they regret what they've done." Kakashi told him. Naruto's eyes flickered to Kakashi before moving back to Kushina.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" He asked coldly. "Since the day I could form coherent thoughts, I've never once considered Konoha to be my home and I've never once considered the Namikazes to be my family." The words cut into Kushina's gut like a rusty knife. "You are not my mother. The only parent I ever had was my _real_ mother, Mana Aozaki and I have no reason to give a damn about what some random woman thinks."

Tears swelled in Kushina's eyes and her legs gave out from under her as she broke down crying into a sobbing wreck. Naruto wouldn't forgive her. She had lost her own son and even worse she had been replaced by another woman. The worst part was that she knew she had no one else to blame but herself for this fiasco.

"I'm so sorry my sochi-kun," Kushina whispered as she sat on her knees chanting a stream of apologies.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya yelled. He may not have been the most sensitive of persons but there was something fundamentally wrong in principle about a woman that was a tough and exuberant as Kushina breaking down in tears.

Naruto glanced at the Toad Sannin. "And who the hell are you?"

"I'm Jiraiya. I was supposed to be you godfather." For once, the Sannin abstained from his usual pomp and exultation when introducing himself.

Naruto raised a brow, "Funny, I don't ever remember having talked to you once."

Jiraiya tried hard to suppress a cringe at that statement as he frantically tried to remember if there had been a time he had even once acknowledged Naruto's presence in the Namikaze household. He slumped his shoulders in shame when he couldn't.

"As much I enjoy watching a good drama," Zabuza drawled, as he cut in. "I really don't think this is the right time or place to be doing this right now." And that was the truth of the matter. By now most of the villagers had fled in fear leaving behind only the corpses of combatants. As much as he wanted to help them their presence would only bring them more danger and having to escort civilians to their group would only slow them down. Soon Yagura would be sending reinforcements and they would have to make their escape quickly.

Naruto nodded, easily ignoring the sobs of the woman behind him. "We should start heading back." He agreed.

Suigetsu walked over to where Jinpachi had died and hefted Shibuki in to the air, the sword he had dropped prior to the ambush which by some miracle managed to survive the attack. Suigetsu gave the sword an experimental twirl in his hands and said, "Just so you know… I'm keeping this. The next time though, could you try _not_ to destroy the legendary weapons of the guys you face? Not all of us can just waltz around creating any sword we want just by looking at them you know."

Naruto resisted the urge to face palm. It was good to know that his friend knew his priorities.

o0o

"Why are you following us again?" Naruto snarled. Both the rebels and the Konoha team had quickly set off from the site of the battle as they headed towards the Sanada Mountains though not before Naruto had left behind a couple hundred clones to bury the dead. They were close now and dawn was soon approaching, the red orb already creeping over the horizon.

"Our mission was to bring you home, Naruto." Itachi told him in his usual monotone. "Until that mission is complete, we cannot return to Konoha."

"You know damn well as I do, that place has never been my home Itachi-nii." Naruto hissed. "And even if you all managed to overpower me and try to take me back by force, which I admit you could probably do, I'll have you know I can create swords inside my body. I could probably stab through all eight of my vital points in less than a split second and kill myself before you even come close to taking me."

Sarutobi was taken aback by that. "That's a little extreme isn't it, Naruto?"

Naruto snorted. "Jiji, there wasn't a single day that passed by in that village when I haven't considered killing myself. You should know better than most that there are far worse things in life than death."

The old man nodded sadly. He had an inkling of what the blonde had gone through during his time in Konoha but he never imagined that it had been so bad Naruto would have been willing to end his own life to escape it. Behind them, Itachi shifted, but gave no other reaction to the anger he felt at Naruto's treatment during his childhood.

A sniffle came from the rear of the group where Kakashi and Jiraiya were supporting Kushina who had silently been weeping tears for most of the way there. "Naru-chan." She whispered

"We're almost there." Naruto called out. The group emerged from the woods into a large clearing where the rebel camp had been situated. The camp was situated within large stone barricades that formed a wide square within the clearing. On each corner tall watch towers had been erected to keep a look out on the nearby surroundings. Inside the fortifications rows upon rows of tents had been pitched, denoting a large amount of inhabitants. The guards at the entrance immediately recognized the group and let them pass, but only after Naruto and Zabuza had finished explaining why five konoha nins had been in their group. Many people bustled around the inside, some cooking on open fire pits, while others were bandaging the less serious injuries and wounds of comrades and friends. The Konoha team couldn't help but notice how the Kiri rebels seemed to look up to Naruto despite his young age. As they walked towards the center of the camp many politely called out greetings and Naruto answered them concisely in turn. It was strange to see grown men showing a thirteen year old child, albeit an extremely powerful thirteen year old child, such deference and respect. Even Itachi, who had become an Anbu captain at the same age as Naruto, remembered how hard of a time he had trying lead squad members that were more than double his age at that time. Here, Naruto had neither the advantage of coming from a powerful clan nor was he even a native to this country and yet he commanded their absolute attention as though he had been doing so his entire life.

Finally they reached what was obviously a command tent, judging from the fact that it was simply far more sizable and ornate than the rest. They walked in and saw a woman talking to some men. When she saw them she gestured for the men to leave which they did and left the group alone with her. Jiraiya giggled perversely. The woman was very beautiful. She had long flowing auburn hair that came down to her ankles. She wore a long-sleeved, dark blue dress that left her shoulders and her generous cleavage bare, a sight which Jiraiya greatly appreciated.

"Sorry we're late Mei." Naruto greeted

"Naruto, Zabuza." The woman greeted, "It's unusual for you to be this tardy. Did something happen along the way?"

Zabuza chuckled. "Actually I met some of my former comrades in the seven last night. I have to admit it was pretty nostalgic seeing them again." Mei widened her eyes and looked to Naruto for a more detailed explanation.

"We came across Kushimaru Kuriarare and Jinpachi Munashi in a sizable patrol last night and defeated them." Naruto explained. "They were slaughtering a small village down by the mountains a few miles away from here. There's no way in hell Yagura would have sent two of the Seven Swordsmen for a routine patrol. If my guess is correct then I'd say that Yagura is very close to finding our hideout if he hasn't already."

Mei nodded in agreement with Naruto's assessment of the situation. "I agree," she said, "I knew we couldn't expect to hide forever but I didn't think he would find us this quickly."

"Yagura's always been a resourceful bastard." Zabuza added his own two cents in. "It just means we'll have to gather our boys faster."

Mei hummed in thought as her eyes drifted over to the Konoha team and widened in recognition. "Naruto-kun." She called sweetly, "Could you please explain to me why some of Konoha's most dangerous ninjas from the Bingo Book, two of them being a Sannin and the former Hokage, are here right now?"

Oh boy. She added the -kun suffix to his name. Naruto knew that could either be really bad or really good and he wasn't sure which one it was right now. Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Mei, remember how you said my past didn't matter as long as I was loyal to the rebellion. The situation's changed."

The kunoichi's eyes flashed dangerously. "How exactly?"

Naruto suppressed a sigh and began explaining the story of his childhood, about the Kyuubi, his neglect, his training, and how he had run away and met Mana that same fateful night. Throughout the story Kushina had lowered her head in shame unable to meet the gaze of anyone that looked her way. Haku glanced at Naruto and felt a twinge of sympathy, also knowing what it was like to not have any real parent figure until he had met Zabuza. As for Zabuza though, he just shrugged it off. After all he had seen far more tragic stories before during his life. When he had finished Mei sighed as she sat back down onto a small chair rubbing her temples in circular motions to ease her headache before looking up to address the Konoha team. "And I suppose you're here to take him back to Konoha." It wasn't a question.

"While I agree Naruto may have been wronged," Sarutobi began, "His family desires a chance to make amends and even then there are many of us besides his immediate family that miss his presence and wish for him to return."

Mei mulled over this carefully for a moment before replying. "When Naruto first joined us, I was told that his mother was Mana Aozaki, a former Kiri kunoichi who I had always admired even before the purge but I never imagined something like this would ever happen. The rebels of Kiri have no desire for a war against Konoha," She told him "nor do we intend on going against your wishes. However, the organization of our forces is closer to that of an alliance between the many rebel factions that had banded together to fight. Being a leader of one of the Burebusu, Naruto technically doesn't have to answer to anyone and therefore there is no one here that can force him to return. He explicitly stated from the very beginning that his loyalty lay only with his ideals and that he intended to leave once Yagura and his forces had been defeated. We accepted this condition despite its inherent risk since Naruto was and still is a necessary ally. As Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, he is the only one amongst us who can even hope to defeat Yagura."

For the Konoha team it was a lot of startling information to swallow at once. To begin with, the fact that Naruto was the _leader_ of the Burebesu came as a bit of a surprise! In hindsight while Zabuza had never shown Naruto the same deference they had seen from many of the Kiri rebels during the time they been there, Zabuza had always turned over the actual command of the group to Naruto and accepted his decisions without question. The idea that one of the most blood-thirstiest of the Seven Legendary Swordsmen of the Mist would look to a thirteen year old boy for leadership, regardless of how powerful and intelligent that said boy may be, was nearly incomprehensible. If that wasn't mind boggling enough, Naruto was apparently now the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. Once more, they realized it was probably something they should already have known. During the confrontation when Naruto had almost killed Kushina, he had been leaking out a fair amount of the Kyuubi's chakra. That should have been obvious. However, the main question now was how the hell did Naruto come to possess its chakra!

"Wait a minute," Kakashi said reaching for the back of his pouch and pulling out a tri-pronged kunai. "Sensei needs to know about this. Would you mind if I summoned the Hokage here right now?" Mei nodded in response.

Naruto's gaze lingered on the Hiraishin kunai before he scowled. "I really don't feel like having to deal with that bastard right now. Can I leave this to you, Mei?" He asked her.

The buxom woman nodded, really hating the fact that she had chosen to become the overall leader of the movement against Yagura. Naruto dipped his head in gratitude and walk towards the entrance of the tent. As he did so, Kushina moved to follow him, most likely to try and talk to him again.

"Don't," he snapped at her coldly. He really did not want to have to deal with his former family right now. He shook his head and nearly stormed out of the tent followed by Haku and Zabuza. Silently, Hiruzen also slipped out of the tent and followed Naruto, something the blonde haired Jinchuriki did not object to. As they made their way outside, Naruto gestured for the Sandaime to keep walking with him.

For a few moments, they walked quietly down the endless aisles of tents, until Zabuza finally decided to break the silence. "So you're the son of the hotshot Yondaime Hokage huh?" he shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe I didn't see the resemblance. Still I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised huh? It's just like Mana to adopt some neglected kid."

Naruto hid his surprise, not having heard much about his mother's past. "I wasn't aware you knew her."

"I never knew her personally but I did meet her once." Zabuza told him. "Back when I was about fifteen during the time I joined the Seven Swordsmen," he recounted, "Yagura began ordering the execution of a few clans calling them traitors of the state. Back then, no one could have even imagined that it would lead to the Kekkari Genkai massacre it became… well, no one except Mana that is. When she organized a large escape with a bunch of survivors from those persecuted clans, Yagura ordered me, Raiga and a large Anbu squad to wipe them out."

Naruto stopped to stare at Zabuza. "Raiga? As in Raiga Kurosuki? Wasn't he also a member of the Seven?"

Zabuza nodded. "Yagura wanted to use this opportunity as a show of force… to show what would happen to those that opposed him."

"What happened?"

"I got cocky." Zabuza admitted sheepishly, as he scratched his head. "At the time, Mana had a reputation for being softhearted, idealistic and naive and like a complete fool I mistook that for weakness." He shook his head chuckling. "Heh, she completely _destroyed _us. From the very get go she turned the tables against us and made me know what it felt like to be completely outclassed. The only reason she didn't kill us that day was because she would have been ashamed if she 'killed a bunch of immature brats'."

Haku widened his eyes. "She must have been very strong for you to say something like that Zabuza-sama."

"I admired her for her strength." Zabuza admitted. "But most of all I admired her for her conviction. She wasn't strong despite being kind and idealistic. She was strong _because_ she was kind and idealistic. Think about it Haku. She lived a country where hundreds of people were being slaughtered every day and yet, no matter what, she always did her best to save everyone she could, not once wavering in her beliefs. Anyone else would have become disillusioned and lost faith in themselves… most people did. But Mana Aozaki held on to her conviction like iron through the hell she had lived through her entire life."

Naruto snorted. "She was very strong. She kicked my ass in every one of our spars." He agreed. "Why didn't you ever tell me about this before?"

"You never asked." The Demon of the Mist replied, smirking under his mask of bandages. "But to be honest, when I first saw you in Nami no Kuni I knew you had to be her son. You had the same eyes as she did… Strong eyes. That's why no one ever doubted you when you told us you were her son. Even if you look nothing alike, you act so much like her it's uncanny."

A faint and melancholic smile touched Naruto's lips. "I like to think that ninety five percent of all good things within me began with her. The other 5 percent began within jiji here, along with Satsuki-chan, Itachi-niisan and Mikoto obasan."

Sarutobi smiled warmly, "She must be a great person for both of you to speak of her so highly."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "She was."

"Kid, please tone down that sappy shit." Zabuza gagged. "You'll make me throw up and then I'd have to undo my bandages."

Naruto just chuckled. Parting ways with Zabuza and Haku, Naruto and Hiruzen continued to walk towards a small hill on the west side the encampment. As he reached the top of the hill a small breeze passed by and ruffled his hair for a several moments. Tension left his body as he relaxed, releasing a large sigh as he did so.

"It's been a long time Naruto." Hiruzen smiled, opening his arms for a hug, one which Naruto eagerly returned.

"I missed you too, Jiji." Naruto told him.

"I wish you informed me of your departure beforehand, Naruto so I wouldn't have had a heart attack when I saw your name on the emancipation document a few days after you left."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly. "I'd been planning the emancipation form thing for a few years actually, but my actual running away was something more spontaneous than anything. Sorry about that."

Sarutobi chuckled. "Don't worry about it Naruto-kun. I'm just glad you're alright."

"So, how's Satsuki?"

"She is doing well Naruto but she misses you quite dearly."

Naruto grimaced nervously. "She's isn't _too_ angry that I left is she?"

"She was furious when you left." His surrogate grandfather told him, sympathetically. "But she was more heartbroken later on by your absence."

Ugh." Naruto groaned. "I feel bad, I really do. I know I should have sent a postcard or something but it was too risky jiji. I couldn't have done it without having it tracked back to me. Maybe I should visit sometime when all this is over."

Hiruzen smiled. "That seems like a great idea, Naruto… You might want to wear a helmet though." He added with a small smile.

Naruto nodded dejectedly. "I know." Satsuki would probably try to punch straight through his skull the minute she sees him.

"Naruto!" a familiar voice called. Naruto closed his eyes and instinctively flexed his hands the way he always did whenever he prepared to trace Kanshou and Bakuya. He recognized the voice far more than he would've liked. It was the voice of the man he had perhaps detested more than anyone else. Turning around he spotted Minato Namikaze, the man who was the most responsible for his pain and suffering, striding towards him. Naruto knew all too well how much he looked like the man and he absolutely hated it. Behind him, Naruto spotted, the rest of the Konoha team walking close behind. "Naruto, it's good to see you again my son." Minato said coming to a stop before him.

"A parent that abandon's their own child is no parent at all." Naruto snarled. "You know damn well as I do that you have no right to call me your son."

A pained expression crossed the older blonde's face. "Naruto, I know I wasn't the best father in the world but I still care about you and I want us to be a family again." Minato told him, hoping to earn his forgiveness.

"You mean the family that abused and neglected me for eight years?" Naruto asked, his tone snarky.

"Yes… but we want to make it up to you. _I_ want to make it up to you as a father."

"A father that stuck a demon in my gut and pretty much left me to die in a village." Naruto asked in the same tone.

"Naruto, What do you want me to say?! I'm sorry!" Minato cried frantically.

"Oh, you're_ sorry_ for treating me like complete trash and letting the villagers use me as a punching bag?" Naruto asked angrily.

"It was… a very precarious situation at that time." Wow, even Minato had to admit that sounded pretty bad.

"Well then clearly that justifies everything and I should completely forgive you." Naruto told him in a voice that was far too sweet to be true.

"You're… being sarcastic aren't you?"

Naruto smiled fondly. "Yeah, I learned that from my _real_ mother, you know, the one that actually loved and took care of me when I was little."

"… Right." The Yondaime answered awkwardly.

"The mother I would never have met if you hadn't been such horrible parents."

"Right… that mother…" For the love of all things holy, this was getting depressing. Well depressing for him anyways, he had no idea what Naruto was thinking. Still, Minato pressed on bravely. "Naruto, sensei told me you used the Kyuubi's chakra. How did you come into possession of the fox?"

Naruto glared at him. "Why? Does Konoha want its weapon back?" He drawled, his voice laced with barely restrained fury.

"N-No, I just… I just wanted to know." Minato told him sadly. What was he going to do? He couldn't force Naruto to come back to Konoha. That would only end in disaster and from what he had heard from Kakashi and Jiraiya, taking Naruto away by force would only earn the hostility of the rebel Kiri-nins for taking away their hero.

Naruto glared at him suspiciously for a moment before rummaging one of his pockets and taking out a small crystal pendant. He tossed it at Minato and the latter caught deftly and noticed that there were several advanced and complex sealing arrays inscribed into the structure of the gem. "That's a memory crystal." He told him. "I sealed some of my memories in it so you can just concentrate your chakra into it to activate it."

Hesitantly, Minato followed his instructions and focused his chakra into the crystal. A bright flash flared momentarily, briefly blinding those who stood in close proximity. A moment later, they opened their eyes to find that their surroundings had completely changed. The found themselves in the middle of a dirt path, probably somewhere near the border edges of Hi no Kuni (Fire Country) if the surrounding lush green forests were of any indication.

"A genjutsu." Kushina whispered in awe. "I see, the seal must have converted his memories into a series of illusionary images."

The sound of laughter caught the group's attention and they looked towards the sound to see Naruto flying high in the air, whooping in enjoyment. He was riding on a large double bladed sword. The blades had been shaped into large spades, wide enough so that Naruto could rest his feet on top of them as platforms, and were joined together in the middle by a large two handed hilt. Naruto used the sword to gain several meters of altitude before plunging from the sky, pulling out from the dive just above the ground besides a silver haired woman. The woman wore a grey trench coat with a black shirt and blue jeans underneath.

Mana chuckled as she glanced at Naruto. "You know, I think you're having a bit too much fun playing around with your new sword."

Naruto returned the smile with one of his own as he stood on his makeshift platform. Naruto smiling, for Kushina the very idea was so alien to her it has virtually incomprehensible. It was not the sardonic sneers or bitter smiles he had worn earlier but a true smile, denoting genuine happiness and joy. It occurred to her she had never seen her son smile before and watching him do so now was like basking in warm sunlight. For a moment she felt nothing but burning envy for this woman who seemed to receive all of her son's smiles, laughs and affection like a commodity.

"Hey don't blame everything on me, Kaa-san. You're the one who made me this custom blade so I could do this in the first place." He responded teasingly. "And besides… it was one of the few birthday presents I ever got." Naruto's voice deflated near the end, something Mana clearly noticed.

She frowned for a moment before smiling once more and ruffling his head. "Well, I'll see what I can do to fix that." She promised, making him brighten up and smile once more. "I have to admit though," she continued. "You did a damned good job of improving the Futon and Anti-Gravity fuinjutsu arrays I already inscribed onto the thing. Your idea of using Katon Fuinjutsu to create a jet propulsion was absolutely genius. That's something I haven't even considered."

Pleased with the praise, Naruto grinned and decided to return one of his own. "I did learn from the best after all."

Mana chuckled. "Suck up… So have you thought of a name for the thing yet?" she asked.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "A name?" He paused for a moment. "I guess I should name it since all my other special swords have names. I can't just go around calling it 'that sword' after all. Hmmmmmm… what about Hiryu?" He asked her

"Flying Dragon, huh?" She smiled. "It's a fitting name considering its abilities."

"Yosh!" Naruto pumped a fist into the air. "From this day forward this sword will be known a-"

**"#$%^&*&^%$#$%^&*&^%$#$%^&**&^%$#^$^%!"**

Both Naruto and Mana stopped dead in their tracks as an inhuman roar shook the very earth they were standing on. Naruto swung around and widened his eyes in disbelief as he saw a malicious red streak of chakra hurtling towards them at unimaginable speeds. Naruto reinforced his eyes and to his growing horror, he saw what could only be the chakra form of the Kyuubi no Yoko coming right for him. Thinking quickly after deducing that the Yoko could only be after him, Naruto flared a burst of chakra in to the newly named Hiryu and streaked off away from Mana, ignoring her shouts of protest.

Sure enough the crimson red streak immediately adjusted its trajectory to come after him. Scowling, Naruto poured even more chakra into his sword increasing his speed even further. Hiryu had been Naruto's twelfth birthday present from Mana, given to him only a few weeks prior. In itself, Hiryu was a testament to human ingenuity and the unlimited potential in the art of sealing. Mana had used her elemental seals to create Anti-Gravity and Wind seals within the layers of steel in blades in order to create a sword that could not only fly at extremely high speeds but also maintain a stable platform for its user at the same time. From there Naruto had further enhanced its already heightened speed by adding flame elemental seals onto the rear blade and aligning them so that its flames would maintain a jet propelled thrust. Though Naruto hadn't fully tested its capabilities yet, he already knew for certain that Hiryu could easily break the sound barrier as it was doing now.

Yet no matter how much chakra he pumped into the sword, the red chakra beast was steadily catching up to him, threatening to overcome the gap if he didn't do something drastic anytime soon. He zigzagged through the nearby canyon, ducking through crevices and whizzing past tree top canopies, but not matter what he put between himself and the fox, the Nine Tails simple destroyed them as though they were mere trifles and kept gaining distance on him.

_'Is this it? I am really going to die?'_ Naruto thought. He could feel his chakra coils burning from the exertion and his concentration slipping over the control of Hiryu. Fearing for his life, he looked back at the oncoming pursuer and that moment of distraction was all that was needed for him to crash into a tall tree branch sending him spiraling out of control and into the rocky cliffside. He reinforced his body to brace himself for the oncoming collision but even so, he could feel his ribs crack under the impact as he watched the Kyuubi hurtle towards him before his world went red.

o0o

He was in a field of blades. Naruto rose from where he was lying down and checked his surroundings immediately recognizing them for what it really was, Unlimited Blade Works, the physical embodiment of his innermost perceptions, his very soul itself. But why the hell was he here now?

**"So, my container has finally decided to visit me." **A voice behind him drawled.

Naruto whirled himself around and nearly flinched at what he found himself facing. It was the very same nine-tailed monster that had attacked Konoha twelve years ago. The giant fox was pinned down on each limb by monolithic black gears. Golden chains which Naruto recognized to be Enkindu were wrapped around his body further binding the already trapped fox.

"You're… You're the Kyuubi." Naruto said, unable to get his mental capabilities beyond the already obvious. Instinctively he traced a copy of Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands and held them in a defensive position. "What's going on? _What have you done?_" He growled.

The fox snorted. **"I couldn't have done anything if I _tried, _kit. I you're going to blame someone then blame your father he's the one that fucked up the sealing twelve years ago."**

Naruto's glare hardened. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Kyuubi laughed bitterly. **"If you haven't realized the answer already then you must be dumber than I thought. The answer is already in your hands moron."**

Dumbfounded, Naruto's thoughts drifted to the twin sword in front of him. Kanshou and Byakuya represented the principle of Yin and Yang. They were named after the blacksmith that had forged them and his wife after she had thrown herself into the furnace to give those swords divinity through human sacrifice. Because of their 'married' status, Kanshou and Byakuya contained a strong bond of attraction and therefore it was said that they would always find its way back to the other even if they were separated. Naruto widened his eyes as realization dawned upon him. "Yin and Yang are two parts of the same whole," He said, more to himself than anyone else. "Because they're two parts of the same existence, one cannot exist without the other." Growing horror pervaded his voice as he looked up at the Kyuubi angrily. "So it's only natural there should be some kind of attraction between the two! Even if it was slow at first that force of attraction could easily over time wear down any seal that tries to contain it! You knew this didn't you!" The Kyuubi smiled but didn't answer. He didn't need to. A stream of curses erupted from Naruto's mouth. "You son of a bit-" A hand gently grabbed his shoulder, causing him to instinctively whirled around and face in that direction. To his shock and bewilderment, he found himself facing Mana once more. "Kaa-san what… how… I… _what?_

Mana smiled momentarily in amused at her son's state of confusion before her expression turned angry immediately making Naruto wonder if it was even there in the first place. She drew her hand back and rapped it against the side of his face shutting up any more of his pathetic attempts to form a proper sentence. "Did you really think I wouldn't follow if you just went flying off like that?" She asked, her voice stern.

"B-but I." Naruto began, unable to form coherent thoughts. Looks like an angry Mana was something he was not prepared to deal with.

Mana grabbed both sides of his head and leaned forward until their foreheads almost touched. "It isn't a kindness to try and keep me away from danger Naruto, especially when that danger involves you." She sighed as she tried to make her surrogate son understand what she was trying to say. "I told you the day we met that you weren't a burden to me… and since then you've become something much, much more. Every time you grieve I share a part of that pain. Every time you laugh, your happiness becomes mine. The moments we've shared, the trials we've endured, all those things have made you a part of who I am. So there's no reason to feel guilty about putting me in danger. It's my duty to protect you… because you are… my son."

Unshed tears welled in Naruto's eyes. "I… you… Thank you." He settled for the simple answer, unable to form a more complex sentence than that at the present.

Mana smiled briefly for a moment before becoming serious once again. "Naruto, right now I'm communicating with you through you seal but that won't last long. Your seal is breaking apart and I don't know how long I can keep it contained."

"The Yang Chakra of the Kyuubi is trying to get to the Yin and break out." Naruto told her. "Can you reapply the seal from the ouside?"

Mana nodded, hesitating a bit. "I can but you're going to have to subdue from the inside first. It's the only way to keep the chakra stable enough for the sealing."

Naruto's eyes widened. "How am I supposed to do that?!" He asked, "I mean, I could try and use Enkindu but even then it's a longshot."

"Maybe but it's our only hope." She answered. "I'll see what I can do to help you from the outside."

The Kyuubi, who had been listening intently until now finally decided to speak up. As much as he tried to deny it, he would've been lying if he said he wasn't a little touched by the speech Mana had given earlier. In a way, it reminded him of his own relationship with the Rikudo no Sennin (Sage of Six Paths) many centuries ago. **"You know," **he told them.** "you look like you could use some help. If Naruto here can hold down my Yang Chakra long enough then I could force my consciousness into it and put it under control again. After that, the little missy here can reapply the seal."**

Mana frowned in suspicion. "And what would you stand to gain by helping us, Kyuubi? Unless…" Mana's eyes widened in horrified realization. "Don't tell me you actually _enjoy_ being inside my son!" She accused, pointing her finger at the Kyuubi in accusation while being completely oblivious to the double entendre in her choice of words.

The giant fox did a spit-take as he choked in mid-breath and starting coughing to try to regain control of his lungs once more. **"What!? No! I-it's not like I like the kit or feel responsible for this mess or anything!" **the Kyuubi yelled, angrily. What would otherwise have been an extremely frightening expression was turned comical by the fact that he was obviously very flustered, a shade of red clearly noticeable on his cheeks. **"And don't say it like THAT! It makes me sound like some kind of pervert! It just that I'd much rather be here than be under Madara's control again! Y-yeah that's right! I'm just looking out for my own interests!"**

_'The most powerful of all Bijus… is a tsundere?'_ Both Mana and Naruto shared the same thought although neither was foolhardy enough to give voice to it. _'… And who the hell's Madara?'_

**"Look we're wasting time right now!"** Kyuubi yelled, focusing their attention to the matter at hand. **"My Yang half is almost done breaking through your seal. Naruto, release the Yin half of my chakra to me! You and I are going to have to subdue Yang long enough for your mother to reapply the seal again!"** With only a little hesitation, Naruto grabbed the small paper seal attached to one of the gears and ripped it off releasing Kyuubi from his bonds. The enormous gears shifted off of him and Enkindu slid off him as well as the fox stood for the first time in many years and gave his muscles a tentative stretch. **"Damn kit, you have no idea how good this feels."**

Naruto smirked. "You know, it has been a about a decade or so since you've last been out. Are you sure you're not going to get rusty on me?"

The giant fox snorted. **"Kit, you could lock me away for a hundred years and I'd still be deadly at the end of it."**

"That's enough." Mana interjected. "Naruto, my connection to your mindscape is starting to break just like the seal. Once I'm gone it'll be up to you and Kyuubi to subdue the Yang Chakra. Once you've done that I'll seal it from the outside."

Naruto nodded, his expression conveying the doubt he felt. "Right. Fight and beat the giant red chakra fox of death while begrudgingly teaming up with the said fox's twin half. No pressure, got it."

Mana smiled before leaned down and embraced Naruto reassuringly. "You have nothing to be afraid of Naruto. Maybe if you were alone your burdens would have been too much to bear. But you're not alone. I'm right here. You will always have me here by your side. Now… let's take this furball down." Mana's smile shifted into a smirk, "After all, I didn't raise my son to be a freaking wuss, now did I?"

Naruto grinned. "Hell no!"

With that, the connection vanished and Mana disappeared as she returned to the real world. Meanwhile the seal completely deteriorated letting the Yang Kyuubi into the mindscape as a giant red fox rose up from the ground of his mindscape and faced them menacingly several hundred meters away. For a moment, Naruto recognized the absolute ridiculousness/epicness of his current situation. Seriously what other thirteen year old, or any human being for that matter, expects to singlehandedly face down the Kyuubi no Yoko _inside his freaking mindscape_?

The Kyuubi glanced at Naruto noting his expression. "**We're going to have to pin down Yang long enough for me to take control of it."** He smirked, **"So are you good to go, Kit or do I need to give you some time go get all sentimental and shit?"**

Naruto snorted. "Sorry but we Aozaki's don't do sentimental. We kick ass!"

With that he traced three swords. Kanshou and Bakuya were in his left and right hands respectively while Hiryu was traced right below his feet letting him close the gap in an instant. With Kyuubi following close behind, a battle of the ages was soon underway.

o0o

It took an overwhelming three hours for Naruto and the Kyuubi to finally subdue the Yang Chakra. Throughout it all, both combatants had been bruised and wounded many times, Naruto especially. There had been several moments when defeat seemed imminent for the two, only for one of them to pull something completely insane out of their asses and somehow make it actually work. In the end though, Kyuubi finally managed to stun the Yang Chakra fox just long enough with a weakened version of the tailed beast ball for Naruto to tie it down with Enkindu. It was a mixture of pure luck and half-assed guesswork that gave them the victory. Enkindu was an anti-divine weapon that had been forged to hold the gods themselves. The higher the divinity, the stronger Enkindu's restrictive properties were. Against a non-divine being however, Enkindu was nothing more than an extremely strong chain. Surprisingly however, the Kyuubi itself seemed to possess a high degree of divinity. It made sense though since Kitsunes have long been worshipped as kami by Shinto Buddhists after all.

"You know," Naruto began as he stared at the now fully formed Kyuubi sealed behind gigantic steels bars of his cage. Mana had reapplied the seal immediately after they had subdued the Yang Chakra. "I thought you would have been angrier considering we sealed you back into me."

The giant fox snorted. **"I always keep my word, kit. I promised to help you and so I did. I have my pride after all."** He paused for a moment, seeming to hesitate about something. **"… Hell, I should actually be thanking you kit. You got me back my full chakra and besides… When you caught Yang with those chains of yours, you could've sealed us separately and taken my chakra for yourself. Did you know that?"**

Naruto nodded. "I knew."

**"Then why didn't you?"**

Naruto gave him a tired smile. "Because I don't take something that's not mine without permission. That would be rude and my mother taught me better than that."

The Kyuubi stared at Naruto in a mixture of shock and disbelief for several moments before chuckling. "**You know what, kit, you're alright.****Damned if I know how, but you're a lot better than the other pampered and prissy containers I've had before. Tell you what,"** the fox told him, **"if you ever find yourself in trouble, feel free to draw off of my Chakra. I can only give you a small portion of it from here but who knows what might happen in the future."**

Naruto's eyes widened. He certainly wasn't expecting that. He grinned. "You know what, Kyuubi? You're a pretty alright guy yourself. Thanks."

Kyuubi snorted. **"My name is Kurama, kit. You can call me by my name from now on."**

Naruto did an informal two finger salute. "I look forward to working with you in the future then, Kurama." He said smiling as he severed the mental link between them and returned to the real world.

Naruto's eyes fluttered open as he found himself by the rocky cliff side he had crashed in hours ago when he had been fleeing from the big ball of malevolent chakra. He laughed out loud in disbelief as he got onto his feet. He had done it. Not only had he survived a battle against the Yang Chakra but he now also had access to the full power of the Kyuubi no Yoko. "Did you see that kaa-san?! That was easy?!" He yelled, pumping both fists into the air as he turned towards Mana and froze. "…K-Kaa-san? He whispered.

**(Naruto OST - Sadness and Sorrow *Start*)**

Mana's face was extremely pale, her face sweating bullets as she struggled for breathe while leaning back against the cliff. But what made Naruto's heart stop was the fading image of the Shinigami beside her. It didn't take Naruto long to figure out what happened.

"Shiki Fujin. (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)" Naruto said, his voice barely audible. "Why? …Why would you do it?!" Naruto yelled, pain and anguish clear in his tone. Didn't she understand? Didn't she realize that his life was meaningless without her? Didn't she know how much pain it would cause him to watch her die? That it would be worse than death itself? "Why did you give your life… for someone like me?"

"Is it strange," Mana asked, her voice weak as she drew Naruto into an embrace until their foreheads touched "that we would want to give our lives for the people we love?" She smiled having said her final words as she closed her eyes for the last time, a small peaceful smile on her face as though she was sleeping.

The crushing despair in Naruto's wide eyes was almost palpable as the bright and innocent face he had sported only moments before was replaced with a pained and anguished one stained by tears. Kushina watched in silent agony as Naruto changed. The light left his cerulean eyes as they became the cold, emotionless glaciers they were now. His face looked harrow and stone cold. Quietly, Naruto rested his face in to the crook of Mana neck. His silent misery soon became wracked sobs that echoed across the valley and then even those became louder as he began screaming curses at the world, cursing it for taking away the one person he had ever loved. Needless to say, for those who were forced to watch this horrid scene, his cries were downright gut wrenching.

And all the while, the sun set into the horizon as the world continued to revolve, unaffected by the cries of a lone boy.

* * *

**General RTS:** Those of you who didn't see Mana's death coming clearly didn't get my hints when I referenced, Kiritsugu, Natalia and Ur (Fairy Tail) as Mana's inspiration. While some of you might complain that it didn't give Mana the development and story time she deserved, I would like to point out (again) that Mana's importance (much like that of Kiritsugu, Natalia and Ur) doesn't lie within her present actions as a character but as a catalyst that shaped the main character. She will receive the attention she deserves but it will be done posthumously as we explore Naruto's character. Mana's death really made me realize how much of a tragic hero Naruto is. He spent his entire childhood being abused and ignored by his own parents and when he actually finds someone that loved and cared for him she was torn away by his own past. And at the end of all those hardships the only reward he gets are the twisted ideals that broke all the great men that pursued them to the end. (Archer and Kiritsugu= Hence the name Broken Swords.)

In terms of character Naruto used to be a lot like his canon counterpart during his time with Mana when she was still alive. Sure he was much more intelligent but he was a generally happy, idealistic kid that enjoyed goofing off every once in a while. However, with her death, Naruto becomes more bitter, cynical and jaded. We will of course explore how this happens in the later chapters. Naruto in this story is a very conflicted and byzantine character, far more so than canon, especially when it comes to his former family. One of the primary reasons he has a hard time bringing himself to forgive them is because they were indirectly responsible for Mana's death, but at that same time he can't even forgive himself since he considers himself to be_ directly_ responsible for Mana's death. Mana's final words to him basically stated that she gave her life because she loved him. So not only does Naruto blame himself for the death of the person he loved the most, the very idea of being loved is an anathema to him now. The way he sees it, people aren't supposed to give their lives for him, he's supposed to give his life for them. Though he doesn't realize it, the thought of having people love and care about him secretly terrifies him now.

Secondly it is impossible to overstate Mana's importance in the development of Naruto's character. She and archer were the biggest influences in his life and they can pretty much explain 95% of all his character quirks. She was pretty similar to what Zabuza was to Haku, except on a much larger scale. To begin with, Mana was far kinder towards Naruto so rather than seeing himself as a tool, Naruto sees himself as her legacy, the product and continuation of her ideals and principles. That's why he can't stand the thought of acknowledging the Namikazes as his family. Every time they refer to him as their son or try to pretend like they're his parents, he sees that as them trying to steal credit for what Mana had done to raise him, thereby undermining all the kindness she had shown him; to him acknowledging them as family would be an absolute betrayal to his mother. On a more minor scale, Naruto also feels a bit of an obligation towards the Aozaki name. When he saves others and becomes a hero, he wants people to know that it was _Mana _that made him to who he was, not the Namikazes. But so long as the Namikazes continue to associate with him, people (morons) will always see him as the 'Hokage's son' which_ really_ pisses him off. On the flip side of the coin however he knows it's a bit of a hypocrisy since his ideals demand absolute selflessness and he'll often wonder what Mana would say if she was still alive. On one hand Mana was a very forgiving person (which Naruto wants to emulate) but on the other hand she was also the one that told him it was alright to be selfish sometimes. Thus there's a lot of internal conflict here in Naruto.

In conclusion, if Mana was still alive, he would've been perfectly willing to forgive the Namikazes. They would have never been a family again but he would've been willing to be something of a friend. Mana's death however becomes a game changer.


	3. Hell and Heaven: Third Blade

**General RTS: **On a completely unrelated note to the rest of this AN, I've been rereading the Great Teacher Onizuka manga the last few days of my Spring Break and I have to say, Onizuka is the OG badass of all badasses. In fact every shonen manga should come with their very own Onizuka. He would walk in and beat some sense, overpowered superpowers be damned, to every major villain in Naruto, 90% of which are just whiny little bitches. Obito: Saw _one_ person die and decides to destroy the world. (Seriously aren't ninja supposed to be military people or something?) Madara: Jello of Hashirama bro? Orochimaru: Throws a hissy fit over the fact he didn't get the job promotion he always wanted. Sasuke might be the only one in the entire damn series that was a decent reason for being evil and even then it's still not that good of an excuse.

***Spoiler Alert***

In this chapter we learn that Naruto has a Berserk Button. Guess what it is. It's not that big of a surprise. In hindsight after I finished writing the entire chapter, I actually realized how funny/ironic it was that Naruto's reaction to someone pressing his Berserk Button would be use Berserker's weapon. That was actually completely unintentional. We also learn that he has a very special ability. The power to piss of your opponent in the middle of battle. He learned very early on that he could anger his opponents in to making mistakes and cloud their judgment. I also kinda enjoyed the irony here of having Itachi protect Naruto from Kisame seeing as how in canon it was the other way around. In my opinion, Naruto comes off here as a bit overpowered, but he's not invincible (As this fight hopefully proves). He does have his own weaknesses and he won't just breeze through all his battles like some fics. At the same time though, I'm trying to balance out the fact that Naruto has to fight very strong opponents early on in the story. Anyways at the very bottom of this chapter you'll see a segment called **Deleted Scenes**. Those are just humorous scenes and ideas I wrote and toyed with. Some of these ideas would have nearly made it into the actual story while others are just ideas I wrote up for fun. I have to say, I loved writing Zabuza in the last thousand words or so of this chapter. Enjoy.

**General RTS does not encourage underage drinking or alcohol abuse. He encourages all readers to drink wisely and safely. Please enjoy the following chapter with that in mind.**

* * *

**Hell and Heaven: Third Blade**

The memory ended and the genjutsu around them dropped as they returned to the real world once more. Kushina could feel tears watering her eyes as she reflected on what she just saw. No matter how much she tried to deny it, it was impossible to have hated Mana after what she had just seen. Not after everything she had done for Naruto. To have not even hesitated for a second to give her life in order to save his. To have faced death without an ounce of fear or regret, instead using her very last breath to try to comfort the small child she had saved from loneliness and despair... Mana Aozaki was such a... such a...

A mother. It was the kind of love and dedication that could only have been expected of a woman of maternal instincts toward a child she cherished. Her actions, selfless and noble as they were, only served to further contrast Kushina's own treatment towards Naruto. She couldn't blame Naruto for refusing to accept her as a mother anymore. If the choice was between a kind and loving adoptive mother and a neglectful birth mother than it was painfully obvious which one of those two choices he would have chosen.

Minato on the other hand was seething in self-loathing. For all his famed genius in the art of fuinjutsu how the hell could he have forgotten the most basic principles of Yin and Yang?! And now, it was his wife and kids that suffered the consequences of his idiotic and careless mistake. He had never once checked the seal for degradation, completely convinced in the false infallibility of his own sealing abilities. What arrogance. And now that mistake had cost his daughter her career as a Kunoichi, his wife her son and Naruto the person he had considered to be his mother. There weren't enough words to describe how badly he had screwed up.

"Naruto," he said as he turned to his son, somehow trying to express just how sorry he was.

"I'm not sure what I am anymore." Naruto told him, cutting him off. "But I do know this... I'm not your son. I was raised far too well to be your son. My name… is Aozaki Naruto. I have fought, bled and killed to carry this legacy and I'll be damned to deepest pits of hell before I let you trample all over it."

He spoke with such a calm firmness, it was impossible to doubt his words. For a moment, silence permeated across the field as both Minato and Kushina lowered their heads in shame, save for the occasional sob or sniffle that came from the latter. The former looked like he wanted to say something until…

"Naruto-sama!" Naruto sighed. Seriously this was the third time in the past five hours someone had interrupted one of his conversations by shouting out his name. Naruto turned around and saw a recognized a Kiri-rebel, Chojuro if he remembered the boy's name correctly, running towards him with a panicked look on his face. As he drew closer, fully coming to a stop in front of him, Naruto noticed a layer of perspiration on his face, his breathing labored from exertion. "There's big trouble! Mei-sama that you come right away!"

Naruto raised a brow. "Chojuro, we're the same age you don't have to add the -sama suffix to my name like that. And besides I just talked to Mei a few hours ago. I was under the impression I'd have some time to rest before I was assigned another mission."

Chojuro shook his head frantically. "It's not that! A scout just came in and Yagura's announced that he's executing the remaining bloodline clans at dawn tomorrow!"

Naruto's eyes widened with shock as he grabbed Chojuro by the shoulders. "Are you sure that's what he said?"

Chojuro nodded. "Please you have to come right away."

Naruto nodded and followed Chojuro as they sprinted towards the center of the camp.

o0o

The center of the rebel camp was in absolute chaos. Like Naruto, nearly all of the shinobi in the camp had been informed of the news and were now gathered in the meeting grounds, shouting out their own opinion and adding to the general mayhem. Several of the different rebel factions were yelling and arguing about what to do but no clear voice could be heard in the ruckus.

"This is crazy." Kushina commented.

"If you think this is bad then you haven't seen Konoha's council on a bad day." Minato muttered while Hiruzen grunted in agreement. For once Minato was glad to have finally left the office and left the paperwork to a Kage Bunshin.

"Silence!" Mei's shout gradually quieted the present shinobi though many of them still murmured softly to one another. "Our scouts reported that the prisoners of the camps are indeed being transported to the Valley of Saizo where Yagura had stationed his main army. Therefore we can only conclude that he intends to carry out his threat."

"It's obviously a trap." Naruto surmised. "If he wanted to just kill them he could've done it quietly without any of us knowing. That fact that he would announce it like that means that he's expecting us to try and save them."

"I know that valley and it's definitely a trap." Ao told them scowling, adding in his thoughts. "The grottos along those shores are the perfect the place to hide an ambush. We walk in and suddenly we're surrounded, nowhere to run."

"The best option," Mei mused, "Would be to wait and hold out against Yagura long enough for our allies in Konoha to arrive and assist us in battle.

Naruto's head whipped up. "What was that?"

"After you left," Ao explained gesturing to the Konoha team. "Mei-sama and the Yondaime hokage-sama agreed to have Konoha support the rebel cause in exchange for an alliance after the civil war. So now time is on our side since it's only a matter of time before we receive reinforcements."

As he spoke, many of the rebels nodded, murmuring in agreement as they saw the logic in that plan. Naruto mulled over it sadly. The decision made complete sense after all. Not everyone could be saved and the red knight said it best. Kill one to save ten. Kill ten to save a hundred. Kill a hundred to save a thousand. And kill a thousand to save millions. He was no longer a child. He knew that there were times where he wouldn't be able to save everyone not matter how hard he tried. There were times when the few had to be sacrificed in order to save the many. But then again, there was flip side of the argument. How could he hope to save ten if he didn't have the courage to save one? There must have been thousands of people down there in that valley, innocent men ,women and children about to be executed for something they never had any power over. So what if there's little to no chance of actually being able to save them? Didn't the red knight constantly throw himself into the most dangerous of situations to save the people he did? What was the point of winning if all they were going to do was to replace Yagura's cruel and tyrannical regime with an equally heartless and callous one? Even if the odds were low, they weren't zero. And that, Mana would say, is the most important statistic of all.

Naruto smiled. '_Well, it looks like I still have a bit of stupid left in me.' _He thought ruefully.

"That would be the smart thing to do." Naruto agreed. "But who ever said, I was smart. I'm going to go save them." Nearly every face there turned to him in shock but in the back of his mind, he could feel Mana's spirit grinning at him

"Weren't you the first one to say that it was a trap?" Mei asked incredulously.

"Yep."

"And you're still going to go?"

"Yep."

"Do you even have a plan?"

"N-…" Naruto paused in mid answer as he stopped to think. "Wait… that depends… does 'making it up as you go along' count as a plan?"

"Isn't that you've been doing this entire time?" Zabuza asked him dryly.

"…... Yep."

"We'd be outnumbered, out supplied and out maneuvered." Mei protested, hoping to talk Naruto out of this mad scheme. "You can't seriously expect any of us to actually go."

"I expect _no one_ to go." Naruto told her with fierce intensity. "Going to save those people is my personal decision, no one else's. If you don't want to go then you have the right to make that choice… and so do I." Naruto paused as he returned the stares of disbelief. "I'm not stupid enough to have any delusions about what I'm getting myself into. I expect neither a glorious or painless death if I fail. Yagura will make sure I suffer down to my last moments and it will hurt… just like how _all _sacrifices are meant to hurt. But no matter what happens… I will never abandon my principles… even if they abandon me."

**(Gundam SEED Soundtrack III Track 27 - Mirai he no Chikai *Start*)**

It wasn't his words that gave the Kiri rebels pause. No. if someone else had tried to say the exact same thing they would have dismissed the man as a fool. However, it was the absolute conviction of Naruto's tone that got their attention. There was something about it that resonated within each of their souls as they stared at the young warrior, completely prepared to face an agonizing death for the sake of something as intangible as a set of principles.

Zabuza shook his head and sighed. "A thirteen year old Konoha brat and an army of Kiri-nins and it's the brat that has the most balls out of all of us. I'd never live it down if I didn't go."

"If Zabuza-sama is going, then so am I." Haku stated firmly

"Same here." Suigetsu shrugged, smiling in a resigned manner. "Naruto won't be going alone."

Mei whirled around and looked at the three in disbelief. "You can't be serious!"

"My clan and I are going," Suigetsu told her firmly "We owe Naruto our lives after all… And besides… I can't help but think that if the clans of Kirigakure during the Purge had come together and stood up against Yagura… then none of this would have happened. I don't want to repeat the same mistakes of my parents."

Many of the older members cringed as they remembered the absolute callousness of how they had dismissed the slaughter of their rival clans during the early stages of the Purge. None of them stopped to consider questioning the actual guilt of these so called 'traitor' clans, too preoccupied with thinking about how to use those events to further their own standing and power. It wasn't until it was painfully obvious that Yagura was specifically targeting bloodline clans did they realize how grave of mistake that had been.

Mei sighed in resignation. "I've seen your group do some extremely reckless things and this takes the cake by far. But… "She paused as a small smile crept upon her lips, "you can count me in."

"Me too!" Chojuro nodded. "I'll protect Mei-sama's smile if it costs me my life!"

Ao smacked his palm into his face and sighed. "I'm not going to be able to talk you guys out of this am I?" he asked rhetorically looking around at their determined expressions. "Fine, I may as well go too. Someone has to keep you kids from doing anything too crazy."

One by one the present shinobis gave their assent and agreement, smiling despite knowing full well the near suicidal situation. Suddenly the possibility of their extremely likely deaths no longer seemed to matter. Or maybe it did matter, only in such a way that they were determined to make those deaths meaningful and sell their lives dearly.

'_Incredible,'_ the Sandaime thought with a small smile on his face. '_He inspired an entire nation to follow the Will of Fire without even realizing it.'_

Naruto gave them a lopsided grin. "Let's go then.

**(Gundam SEED Soundtrack III Track 27 - Mirai he no Chikai *End*)**

o0o

The rebels crept through the woods in complete darkness as they approached the Valley of Saizo. Mei raised her hand, a signal that traveled down the rest of their dispersed ranks for them to stop and take a small break. Followed by Ao and Chojuro, she walked over to the vanguard of the loose formation where the Burebesu had placed themselves. She spotted Naruto and Zabuza with the former apparently having an argument with the Konoha team that had tagged along and made a beeline straight for them. Naruto noticed her walking towards her and broke off his argument with his former family so he could turn to meet her. "Mei." He nodded curtly.

"I've been thinking about this whole situation on our way here." She began. "Yagura wouldn't have laid a trap for us in such an obvious manner."

Naruto nodded. It was the same conclusion he had come to as well during the way there. "I know, he probably set the trap without actually expecting us to fall for it. It's likely this whole set up was a way to demoralize us, show us how helpless we really are. Furthermore, he made announcement in a timeframe where we would have to make the decision immediately. There's barely enough time to make it from our camp to Saizo Valley, so we wouldn't have the time to think of a proper plan of attack." Naruto smirked dryly. "Looks like he's underestimating both our recklessness and our ingenuity. Bastard."

"Even so, Yagura would still take the proper precautions just in case." Mei pointed out. "Mad he may be, he's not stupid. We'll be attacking an extremely fortified position."

"He'll make take the physical preparations." Naruto agreed. "But he's also very confident. He won't make the mental preparations. We can use that to our advantage." Naruto closed his eyes as he thought back to the maps he had seen back at the camp. In his mind he visualized a mental copy of the battlefield, taking care to note every detail and feature of the terrain. Immediately he began running scenarios within his head, trying to figure out Yagura's likeliest possible actions based on what he knew of the man. "Ao was right." Naruto said, opening his eyes. "Those grottos are the likeliest place for Yagura to hide an ambush. There deep enough to that even the best of sensors would have a hard time finding them and there's no other place he could hide a large contingent of soldiers. We can lure them out."

"Ehhhh… How would you do that, Naruto-san?" Chojuro asked curiously.

"Two ways." Naruto answered. "First we lure Yagura away from his own army and then we attack with our full force. It's the only way to threaten the main force enough for them to come out."

"That's not really luring more than it's 'walking completely into an ambush like a bunch of idiots." Ao pointed out disapprovingly. "Really if you're not going to take this seriously we may as well call this off."

In Mei's mind however, she heard something completely different. '_Call this off… Call this off… Call off this… engagement!'_

"Ao," Mei called sweetly with a beatific smile on her face. "Kindly shut the fuck up… _before I kill you._"

Ao immediately clamped his mouth shut, breaking out in cold sweat. Naruto smiled, shaking his head at their antics.

"They outnumber us by a large number so we can't afford to hold forced back." He explained. "And since Yagura already has a pretty good idea of how many men we have, he'd know if we were holding any sizeable force in reserve. But," He added turning to the Konoha. "We do have a force he doesn't know about."

Mei smiled, immediately catching on. "I see. He won't expect a team of Konoha shinobi to be on our side. And six extremely high level ninjas could easily change the tide of battle."

"The grottos may have had their advantages but they also have their disadvantages." Naruto told them. "A small but powerful force could bottleneck them at the entrance and take them apart one by one."

Jiraiya leaned over to Sarutobi and whispered. "Hey sensei, did you ever teach him strategy?"

"No," Hiruzen answered shaking his head. "he must have learned by reading old history books from the library."

Jiraiya whistled in admiration. "Damn, the kid's a genius, no doubt about it."

Mei looked over at Minato who like the rest of the Naruto retrieval team had been listening intently. "That's the plan so far. Is that fine with you?" She asked diplomatically.

Minato nodded, impressed by Naruto's strategic analysis of the situation. "It is, but who's going to lure Yagura away."

"I'll do it." Naruto answered calmly.

"What!" Kushina exclaimed in surprise. She wasn't the only one. Everyone around Naruto was looking at him with varying degrees of surprise. "It's too dangerous!"

"Frankly, I'm the only one that _can_ fulfill that role." Naruto said dryly. "None of you can go," He said gesturing the Konoha nins. "because then he'll know we have outside assistance and will be more cautious. If someone like Mei or Zabuza fights him, he may feel threatened and stay closer with his army. If I go, he'll underestimate me since I'm only thirteen and will feel safer going after me. I'm the strongest of my age group in this army and with Hiryu I'm also the fastest so I can escape much more easily from Yagura."

Minato grimaced. "You've thought this through." He admitted.

Zabuza snorted. "It's ballsy plan… I like it."

o0o

The sunlight edged over the horizon as dawn approached. Yagura stepped out of his tent, into the cold early morning breeze. On both sides, the shinobi that had been on guard outside of his tent snapped to attention.

_'Well.'_ He thought,_ 'I guess they didn't show up after all.'_ Not that he expected them to, after all. Nearly a kilometer away however, Naruto watched the Mizukage exit his tent with reinforced eyes.

"Trace on." He whispered. Naruto raised his left arm horizontally and traced a monstrously large black bow into his hand. In his right, he traced a twisted silver piece of metal that resembled a large drill. The sword shone in brightly as Naruto altered it, reshaping the structure of the sword so that it would be more aerodynamic, now resembling more some kind of distorted arrow. He knocked the projectile into his bow and pulled it back, using the Red Knight's lifetime of experience to ensure that the arrow would hit its mark. "My bone shall twist all in its way… Caladbolg!"

With those words, he released the string watching the arrow fly only for a split second before it reached its destination. The shockwave of the explosive force borne from the impact released powerful gust of winds that knocked even their own members of the Burebesu, off their feet. Down below, the entire landscape had been rearranged, a small crater now surrounded where Yagura had once stood. Tents and structures had been blown away or completely razed while any and all of Yagura's subordinates that had been standing within 50 meters of him during the initial strike were now nothing more than ribbons of bloody flesh, scattered across the field. The Konoha ninjas that had witnessed the event were shocked beyond belief. Even the usually inexpressive Itachi couldn't hide the sense of shock from his face.

"Unbelievable!" Kakashi breathed, trying to wrap his mind around the absolute devastation he had just seen.

"Holy shit!" Jiraiya swore, his jaw slacking at the sight. "How the hell is he still alive?!"

Just as the Toad Sannin said, Yagura stood in the middle of the blast crater, a single tail of the Sanbi draped over Yagura protecting him from the attack. However the Mizukage didn't exactly escape unharmed. Large burn marks coated the tail he had used to protect himself, as the man grimaced in pain whilst glaring up at Naruto who was a little less than a kilometer away. However the important thing was that the Mizukage was unsupported by his followers at the moment.

**(Bleach Sountrack – Guitar III *Start*)**

Naruto jumped, tracing a copy of Hiryu under his feet and launched himself towards the tyrannical Mizukage, their gazes not once leaving the other. As Hiryu ripped across the clearing making its way closer to Yagura, Naruto waited until he was only fifty meters away from his opponent before slapping an explosive seal on to the sword and back flipping off of it. Hiryu continued to fly towards Yagura, the momentum it had built up continuing to propel itself at Jinchuriki of the Sanbi at unimaginable speeds.

Yagura leaned back to the right, narrowly avoiding the flying missile as it passed him and exploded killing several more of his subordinates, not that he really cared anyways. Naruto traced Kanshou and Bakuya as he landed, facing his opponent. Yagura recognized his red cloak almost immediately.

"So, you are the Shinkushi." Yagura commented casually as though he was talking about the weather. At the same time though he pulled his staff off his back and hefted it on to his shoulder. "I expected you to be… older. Nevertheless you will receive no mercy from me, you and the rest of your bloodline scum."

Naruto scoffed. "Are you trying to intimidate me? Because it's not working… in any way… whatsoever"

"Why not?"

Naruto smirked. "Well first of all, you're like what? Twelve?"

"I'M IN MY MID THIRTIES BRAT!" Yagura roared as Naruto hit a lifelong sore point. "And even if I was a kid it's not like you have room to talk!" he pointed out while glaring accusingly at him. Naruto shrugged conceding the point. He was only thirteen after all.

"So instead of being a munchkin you're a midget. Wow, that's so much more frightening." Naruto drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" Yagura screamed as he leapt forward, bringing his iron staff to bear down on Naruto. The crimson clad blonde blocked the attack by crisscrossing Kanshou and Bakuya but even then the force of the attack cracked the ground underneath him.

Naruto smiled as he practically saw red in Yagura's eyes. The rouse had worked perfectly. Now it was a matter of luring the enraged Jinchuriki away from battle… like leading a bull… an extremely angry and powerful bull that could destroy entire armies perhaps but the point still remained valid.

Naruto reinforced his legs to jump back as Yagura attacked again, this time in a horizontal swipe that would have crushed his ribs against his spine if he didn't dodge. '_So, he wants to start off with a Bukijutsu (weapons) battle does he?'_

The battle continued as the two exchanged blow after blow while Naruto slowly allowed himself to be pushed back, keeping in mind that his role was to lure Yagura away from the main battle. Naruto parried another bo strike with Kanshou before spinning his body to counter with Bakuya. Yagura backed away from the vertical swipe, almost effortlessly. Using the momentary space his enemy had created, Naruto also backed off though he did so much further as he jumped back several meters. '_He has a much longer range with that staff of his.' _He thought.

"You're not getting away!" Yagura snarled as he drew out two collapsible fuma shurikens from behind his back, charging them with chakra and threw them both at Naruto. Naruto, who was still in mid-flip at this point, was upside down as he watched the projectiles race towards him. Grimacing, he threw both of his twin falchions in response, adjusting his aim to account for their magnetic properties, to counter the large shurikens. The spinning swords crashed Yagura's weapons, nearly cutting through them as they did so.

Seeing that his opponent was now unarmed, Yagura was already going through a set of hand seals, his hands nothing more than a blur. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)" The moisture around him coalesced and formed a large dragon made of water launching itself at Naruto.

Landing on his feet, Naruto saw the water dragon rushing towards him. He thrust out his hand and yelled, "Rho Aias!"

A massive pink seven petal flower, both luminescent and translucent, appeared in front of Naruto, acting as a shield to the oncoming attack. The water dragon crashed into the flower shaped shield, as the powerful attack met an equally powerful defense. However Naruto knew that Rho Aias was one of most versatile and powerful weapons in his arsenal. The seven petals of the shield acted as a layered defense mechanism, each one as strong as a fortress wall. Eventually the water subsided, and Naruto looked to where he had last seen Yagura only to find him gone.

Suddenly, Naruto's battle honed instincts screamed at him to duck. Not wasting any time, he did so just barely dodging a staff swing that would have taken off his head if it had connected. Instantly he traced his signature Yin and Yang swords and parried the next two strikes forcing Yagura back. Naruto fought the urge to smirk as he realized what just happened. _'First he used his Shurikens to force me to react and effectively disarm me. Next he used Suiryūdan no Jutsu to distract me. And then while I was blinded he closed the gap for the kill. He must have already figured out that I'd have the advantage in a ranged battle. Heh, I suppose he isn't the Mizukage for nothing.'_

**(Bleach Sountrack – Guitar III *End*)**

With that thought in mind he traced a dozen nameless swords over his head and launched them at the Mizukage. Yagura spun his staff like a windmill creating a makeshift shield that blocked the oncoming onslaught of swords.

"I surprised you managed to survive that attack." Yagura admitted with grudging respect. "Considering how strong you are it's strange that I don't recognize you from any of the Bingo Books. Who are you?"

"My name is Aozaki Naruto, son of Aozaki Mana." Naruto declared. Tone of pride in his voice would have been obvious to any other opponent but it was lost on Yaugra whose face contorted in derision.

"Aozaki?" Yagura snorted "Do you mean that two bit whore who fled from this country like a whipped dog?!"

Naruto's gaze instantly darkened at the insult to his mother. Overwhelming killing intent that would have brought lesser ninja to their knees, erupted from Naruto. "What. Did. You. Say?" he snarled, his voice laced with barely restrained fury.

"You heard me boy." Yagura sneered. Dark malicious charks began seeping out of the Mizukage and wrapped themselves around him forming a thick chakra cloak. The Sanbi's signature turtle shell and horns began growing out of Yagura face and back. Behind him, three spike shrimp like tails also took form. Yagura entered the "Version 2" form of the Jinchuriki form as the Sanbi molded around his body.

Naruto didn't care, however. The bastard had mocked his mother and sealed his own fate. Soon he would be nothing more than a splatter of blood against the earth. Detracing both Kanshou and Bakuya, Naruto raised his hand high above his head and whispered, "_Nine Lives_."

A colossal sword manifested itself in Naruto's hand. At first glance it seemed nothing more than a crude, piece of stone shaped into a simple jagged blade with an even simpler bandaged handle. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. Nine Lives was the ultimate weapon of the Greek hero Heracles and while Naruto may have only had a rough idea who this figure may have been from Structural Analysis, he knew that the demigod was undoubtedly powerful. Nine Lives was also his most versatile weapon in Unlimited Blade Works, an all-purpose Noble Phantasm capable of adapting and changing its own appearance and function depending on the target and situation of the user. Furthermore the sword allowed Naruto to copy the monstrous speed and strength of its former wielder. All in all, it was a devastatingly powerful weapon.

A shame no one really gave Yagura the memo. The Mizukage laughed as he saw the ridiculously oversized sword that manifested within Naruto's hand… and immediately regretted it.

Naruto cross the distance between them in microseconds and swung down on Yagura. He had moved so fast, Yagura barely managed to dodge the oncoming attack even in his Biju form. Nine Lives smashed the earth, pulverizing a large area of the ground beneath them into pieces.

'_He's even stronger and faster than before!'_ Yagura noted with some alarm as he spun around Naruto's now exposed back and slammed both his palms into it. "Sangoshō. (Coral Palm)"

Large formations of coral grew on his back restricting his muscles in that area. Naruto gritted his teeth in pain as he was sent flying several meters before slamming down both feet on to the ground and sliding against the dirt. He looked up just in time to see Yagura leaping towards him, ready to attack once more. Naruo refused to give him the opportunity. He drew back his axe-sword horizontally in preparation to strike. "Nine Lives Blade Works!"

Yagura found himself facing nine high-speed simultaneous strikes. It was a testament to his skill and experience as a ninja that he managed to avoid the first attack but he could not avoid the rest. Naruto targeted the upper arm, collarbone, windpipe, temple, diaphragm, ribs, testicles, and thighs. If Yagura hadn't been in his Biju form he would've been nothing but dismembered body parts by now. Even then the attack accomplished tremendous damage to his body. The jagged edges of the blades sawed into leaving bloody gashes and wounds in to Yagura who was now coughing up blood.

'_Looks like the Sanbi gives him extremely high defensive properties'_ Naruto thought_. 'That would've taken out any normal ninja. Yagura… you're as fearsome as the rumors say.' _Naruto shifted his body for a moment and gasped when he felt immense pain from his back where Yagura had struck him earlier. '_Shit… it's like my entire back is paralyzed. What the hell was that attack?'_

'_**It's called Sangoshō kit. It's a strike that grows paralyzing corals on to your back, restricting your movements.'**_

'_Kurama is that you?'_

'_**Who else would it be dumbass?'**_ the now identified fox asked snidely.

Ignoring the jibe, Naruto asked the question that had been on his mind ever since he had fought Gaara. '_Kurama, why can't you ever give me cool abilities like that? I thought you were supposed to be the strongest Biju.'_

'… _**because shut up.'**_ The fox answered without really answering the question at all. '_**Anyways you should get back to your fight. The Sanbi jinchuriki is starting to get up'**_

"You son of a bitch!" Yagura snarled as he struggled to his feet. "I'm going to kill you."

An explosion of malicious chakra sent Naruto flying back high into the air. He twisted Nine Lives around and used it to shield himself from the blast but even then, his arms strained to hold the sword against such a powerful shock wave. Landing an enormous distance away from where he was thrown, Naruto looked up to see a giant three tailed turtle. It resembled a much larger and detailed version of Yagura's previous Biju form.

_'Is that… the Sanbi?'_ Naruto questioned Kurama.

'_**Yeah, that's him alright. Watch out kit, the Sanbi might not be the strongest of us Bijus but he's definitely not the weakest.'**_

'_Oh, really?'_ Naruto asked sardonically. '_And here I thought fighting one of the tailed beasts would be easy. Kami knows this must be my first time ever fighting one.'_

'_**Che, smartass.'**_

"**DIE AOZAKI!"** The Sanbi… or Yagura… or whatever the hell that damned thing was, screamed at him. The Sanbi jumped into the air and rolled itself into a ball crashing into the ground towards Naruto. The sharps protrusions on its back made this attack akin to that of a saw blade. (I believe this attack was called 'Shell Spear' but it was never identified in the manga)

"Rho Aias!" Naruto shouted, once more calling forth the seven petal shield to defend himself. The instant the Sanbi's attack struck against his defense it smashed through first three layers almost instantly. Though the attack slowed, it showed no signs of stopping as Sanbi continued to roll. The fourth layer fell and the fifth followed soon after. Naruto stared in disbelief as his ultimate defense was quickly being overcome as though it made of thin ice.

'_**Rikudo Sennin's balls! Stop gawking and get the hell out of the way, kit!' **_Kurama screamed at him.

Following Kurama's advice too late, Naruto jumped back as the Sanbi smashed through the remaining layers of Rho Aias and bulldozed right over him. Naruto screamed in agony as the body-slam pounded him into the earth, breaking several of his bones in the process.

Naruto writhed in pain on the ground, coughing up large amounts of blood. Many of his ribs had been cracked or broken. The sharps spikes on the Sanbi's back caused severe lacerations into his flesh. Naruto was facing major internal bleeding and organ failure. He looked up to see the fully transformed Sanbi heading west to where the main battle was currently raging. A single attack with the Bijudama (Tailed Beast Ball) could easily wreak havoc on the rebel forces and change the tide of battle. He could not let that happen. He would not let that happen! Ignoring the screaming protests of his devastated muscles, Naruto inched forwards as he crawled on the ground, desperately trying to stand up.

'_Kurama, I could use some chakra here.'_

The fox complied and with tremendous effort Naruto stood up and closed his eyes, tracing a copy of Avalon within his body. The exquisite sheath combined with the effects of Kyuubi's chakra did wonders in healing his damaged body. Naruto focused his chakra into his hand as he began forming his next sword. The air around his hand pulsated a golden light as he traced a straight sword. Its blade shone silver, its cross guard virtually golden and its handle was a royal blue.

Naruto lifted his sword high into the air as the golden energy of his sword swirled around him, pulsating large amounts of chakra as he poured in as much of Kurama's chakra as he possibly could. A column of light emerged from its tip to pierce the sky, Naruto swung down the blade, shouting the name of the miracle he held in his hand as he did so. "EXCALIBUR!"

A golden beam of light shot out at the biju. The Sanbi froze in mid stride as he turned to his left, catching only a glimpse of the attack before it overtook him. The Sanbi's form completely disintegrated under the golden light, flinging Yagura's original body into the ground. In the end, the Mizukage had been taken completely off guard. Whatever, defense Yagura could have had to counter the attack, he simply didn't have enough time or space to deploy it. Though Naruto may have struck the decisive blow, Yagura lost to his own complacency.

Naruto wouldn't make the same mistake. Still hurt from his injuries, Naruto limped forwards into the smoking ruins of where the Sanbi had once stood, looking for either the Mizukage or his corpse to ensure that his opponent was dead. He found it. But what he did not expect, however, was to find Yagura's body draped over another man's shoulder. The tall man had pale blue skin, fish-like eyes and markings that looked like gills under those eyes. As the man saw Naruto approaching, he smiled revealing sharp shark teeth akin to those of Zabuza, Suigetsu and Chojuro.

"Hoshigaki Kisame," Naruto commented, recognizing the man instantly. "Kirigakure no Kaijin (Monster hidden in the mist) and wielder of the infamous Samehada. What are you doing here?"

It wasn't surprising that the man would be here. Kisame was one of the few remaining members of the Seven Swordsmen after all. But it was his appearance that alarmed Naruto. Instead of the standard Kirigakure flak-vest and garb that most jonins of Kiri wore, Kisame had instead chosen to wear a black cloak decorated with red clouds. His forehead protector had a long, horizontal scratch carved across the symbol his village. Naruto knew that it was a traditional method for Missing-nins to show they had rescinded their allegiances and rejected their villages. So what the hell was going on?

Kisame grin widened even further. "Well, well aren't you a smart one." He snorted. "Go home kid, this is grown up business. You may have defeated Yagura but you're way out of your mind if you think you can beat me, especially in your condition. I'd rather not have to kill an already half-dead twelve year old." Naruto snarled as he leapt forward and swung Excalibur down own the fished faced swordsman. Kisame smirked. "Well, I guess you're not as smart as I thought you were."

He swung Samehada off of his back a brought it to bear against Excalibur effortlessly blocking the attack and they stood in the deadlock for several moments. To Naruto's shock however, Excalibur began dematerializing in front of his every eyes as it reverted back to the chakra with which it was initially created.

Now empty handed, Naruto ducked as the giant bandaged cleaver passed over his head and jumped back to his original position. Standing up, Naruto glared at Kisame. "Your oversized fish stick absorbs chakra doesn't it?" he asked flatly, already knowing the answer.

"Yep." Kisame answered. "You figured that out pretty quickly. If I didn't know any better I'd say your swords there were made of chakra." Naruto didn't answer turning Kisame's smirk downright feral. "You're fucked."

Kisame moved in a blur, crossing the gap between them in an instant. Naruto dodged to the left but Kisame proved his skill with the sword and shifted his grip at the very last second, swinging the Samehada directly at Naruto. The sword cleaved large chunks of flesh right off of Naruto, tearing through his skin like butter.

"My Samehada doesn't cut." Kisame told the blonde who was now convulsing on the ground in pain. "It shaves you to ribbons!" He lifted his cleaver off of his shoulder and raised it up into the air for a final strike. "This is the end, brat. You brought this upon yourself."

"Ameratsu!"

Kisame jumped back as black flames separated him from Naruto. In less than an instant Itachi, standing in all his glory wearing his standard ANBU uniform, landed in front of Naruto putting himself in between the two.

"Well, if it isn't the Konoha no Karasu (Crow of Konohoa), Uchiha Itachi." Kisame commented with amusement. "Looks like I get to meet a lot of interesting people today."

"Hoshigaki Kisame," Itachi returned pointedly. "You will not lay a hand on this boy. The rebels have won and they will soon be arriving. I suggest you leave while you still can." In any other circumstances, Itachi would have taken his chances and fought the swordsmen of the mist. However, his main priority right now was getting Naruto to the nearest medic. Naruto was suffering from severe wounds and injuries so it would only be a small matter of time before he finally died of blood loss. Fighting Kisame now would only waste their already limited amount of time and place Naruto in further danger.

Kisame shrugged, nonchalantly. "Whatever. I already have what I came here for anyways." Hefting Yagura over his shoulder, he walked off, disappearing into the mist.

Naruto visibly relaxed and gave his surrogate older brother a weak smile. "Itachi nii-san, just in case I don't have a chance to say this later… thanks." He closed his eyes, exhaustion washing over him as he fell into a deep sleep. Now that he thought about it, it had been quite a few days since he had last slept.

o0o

Minato sat in the waiting room of the hospital outside of the recovery room where Naruto was still unconscious, healing from his wounds. By the time Itachi had brought Naruto to the nearest medical station, he barely enough blood to sustain a kitten. It was miracle he managed to survive it at all. Right now in his hand, Minato held the memory crystal that Naruto had thrown at him the day before. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't bring himself to stop looking through its contents over and over again. When he first watched it, he wondered just why Naruto was so willing to let him see such an intimate moment of his life. To guilt him? No, he understood now. It was to show them how a_ real_ parent was supposed to act towards their child. It had its intended effects. Neither he nor his wife had the gall anymore to call themselves parents in front of Naruto… Not when there was already someone else he acknowledged to fulfill that role… someone who loved him to the point where they would give their lives for him without hesitation.

_'I can't believe it took all this for me to finally realize how badly I screwed up.' _Minato thought bitterly. He thought back to the time when he first found out he would have twins.

_"A boy and a girl eh? Heh, I bet Hitomi will be just as beautiful as her mother. And Naruto… Naruto will be a ladies man just like his old man." He had bragged. The comment had earned him a smack to the side of his head from Kushina._

To the time he sealed the Kyuubi into his own children:

_"Hitomi… Naruto. You two are the heroes of this village." He had told them as he held them fondly in his arms._

To the time of the council:

_Minato had slammed his hand into the table so hard it cracked. "Hitomi will not be a weapon and Naruto will not be executed!" he roared, glaring at Danzo. "Over my COLD, DEAD BODY!"_

_ 'When?' _He asked himself sadly._ 'When did I forget what it meant to be a father?_' He sighed sadly_. _"I took the mantle of Hokage to change this village for the better. Instead I let it change me for the worst. What… What have I turned into… these past thirteen years?''

o0o

That night, Naruto dreamed once more. The red knight accepted his death, just the way he had accepted what he believed would his death all those years ago during the hellish fire of his hometown.

He found himself in a field of blades and he saw someone, a girl with dark long twin tails. Her name was Rin if Naruto recalled correctly.

But the red knight called something else. He called her 'the world'. He called her… Alaya.

Alaya offered him an opportunity… to become something called a Counter Guardian. The red knight was ecstatic.

To continue fulfilling his ideals even after death. To continue being a hero and saving others. It was something he had desired. He accepts this offer without a moment's hesitation.

But it was lie. To be a counter guardian wasn't to be a hero. It was to be a killer, a cleaner that exterminated the thousands that had to be sacrificed for the continued survival of humanity.

He was surrounded by so much blood, so much death… it made him sick.

Again and again, the red knight killed, trying to tell himself, deluding himself that someday somehow the world would become the ideal he had wished for.

But an eternity passed and his ideal remained only just that… an ideal.

He saw it over and over... Meaningless massacres. Meaningless suffering. Meaningless happiness! He was forced to watch it all.

Even when he refused to look, it surrounded him. That isn't what he wished for! He didn't become a Guardian for this!

o0o

Naruto jerked awake from his nightmare, his heart beating completely out of control. He checked his surroundings to find himself in a hospital bed, most likely somewhere inside a hospital. His wounds had been cleaned and bandaged. His ripped and ragged clothes were gone instead replaced by a hospital gown. Belatedly he looked to his left to see a mop of red hair resting against his sheets. It looked like Kushina had fallen asleep by his bed, tear stains were still visible on the white fabric by her face.

Naruto sighed, resting his head against both his hands. Why was he having these dreams now? Those dreams were supposed to have ended years ago when the red knight had died. Those dreams seemed so real. He could feel the emotions, the perceptions, the very pain the red knight experienced. Sometimes he had trouble distinguishing them from his own perceptions. There were often times when he wondered if maybe his perceived life was actually the dream while his dreams of the red knight were actually reality.

This particular dream disturbed him the most. The red knight had fought endlessly for a utopia, yet even after fighting for over an eternity, he never found it. Naruto took a moment to think about what that meant for his own path. If his ideals couldn't be reached, if his path lead only to the deaths and pain of others… then what was he really fighting for? Why was he fighting so hard? He spent several moments in silence dwelling on that question. After a while he leaned back and sighed in sorrowed resignation. He fought for those ideals because they were Mana's ideals. He fought for them because he admired the red knight and his mother for following that path. Emiya at least believed passionately for what he was fighting for, even if he did borrow those ideals from his father. Naruto knew that he only fought for them for no other reason than because his mother fought for them. Naruto laughed bitterly. "Emiya, you weren't the biggest fake. I am."

The sound stirred Kushina awake from her sleep. "Naruto?" she muttered, blinking at him sleepily. She looked up, dazed and disoriented as she looked around before spotting Naruto, her eyes widening. "Naruto!" With that cry she launched herself at the blonde, wrapping him up in an embrace.

Naruto sighed tiredly as he felt himself smothered by the blubbering red head. "Kushina, get off of me." He really wasn't in the mood to argue.

Kushina flinched at the tone and backed off of him immediately, looking slightly abashed. Before he could ask any questions, the door behind her creaked open and Minato popped his head in to see what the commotion was about. Seeing Naruto conscious he smiled. "Ah, good you're awake. You've been out for three days. I'm glad to see you're alright." Naruto didn't bother deigning that a response as he glared flatly at the older blonde. Minato's smile faltered before his expression turned serious. "Naruto we need to talk."

"I thought I already made it clear. We have nothing to talk about Namikaze-sama." Naruto told him with dead finality.

"Naruto please, this is serious." Minato told him. "Itachi told me, you fought Hoshigaki Kisame."

Naruto smiled sardonically. "You mean the guy that rendered my primary jutsu completely useless and nearly cleaved me in half? Yeah, he kinda left an impression on me."

"Is it true he wore a dark cloak with red clouds on it?" The Yondaime asked, ignoring the sarcasm.

"Yes, but why does it matter to you?" Naruto asked, raising a brow.

"Because it means he was a member of Akatsuki." A voice to his right answered. Naruto turned around to see Jiraiya climbing in through the hospital window. The Toad Sannin looked uncharacteristically serious as he held Naruto's gaze. "They're an organization that's currently after Jinchūriki. To be more precise, they're after the biju's inside the Jinchūriki." He told him, answering the unasked question.

"If that's true, then why didn't he take me when he had the chance?" Naruto asked skeptically.

"Probably because he didn't know you had the Kyuubi." Jiraiya answered him. "Hitomi was the only person who was revealed to have the Kyuubi's chakra sealed within her. You were announced to only have the soul."

Naruto's expression darkened. "Are you telling me the only reason I'm still alive right now is because that bastard didn't realize I was a Jinchuriki?"

"More or less." Jiraiya answered, nodding.

"Naruto, I beg you to come back home to Konoha." Minato pleaded with him. "You don't even have to be a ninja, just let us protect you. Not even you can hope to fight against a group of S-Class Missing-nins."

"Namikaze, you're laboring under the assumption that I hold any value in my life at all," Naruto informed him flatly. "an assumption that it completely wrong in this case. I'm not afraid of facing this organization and if they ever do managed to capture me…" he shrugged casually. "I could kill myself in less than an instant and take both me and Kurama before they even come close to extracting him."

"How," Kushina asked sadly. "How can you say something like that?"

"When life holds so little for a man what reason does he have to fear from death?" Naruto asked rhetorically. "I refuse to be your weapon and I refuse to be your prisoner. Even if it means I won't live very long, I at least I would live free and by my principles."

He got up from his hospital bed despite his injuries, ignoring Kushina's protest. He slipped off the hospital robe and traced a new set of clothes around his body. His red cloak was a miniaturized version of the red knights' own coat altered from the Shroud of Martin. His black cargo pants were made of a special artificial material that could be reinforced to be stronger than steel. A white dress shirt lay under the overcoat, since the red knight's usual breastplate was reserved for only battle purposes. After having been subjected to two life shattering revelations, he walked out of them with only one dominant thought in his mind. _'I need a drink.'_

o0o

As it turned out, it wasn't very difficult to find a drink in the mass orgy of celebrations and excitement of the rebel victory. Zabuza had found him immediately and dragged him to a large square table that had been filled to the edge with bottles of brandy. Ao, Chojuro, Haku had been there too. Apparently Suigetsu was still in the hospital recovering from his wounds while Mei was busy trying to restore administration under the new regime of Kirigakure. Naruto wasn't sure how it started, but somehow Zabuza and Ao got it into their heads to start a drinking contest between the five of them. Haku opted out of the competition, refusing to drink a sip of alcohol while Chojuro had been coaxed into drinking by Ao who had insisted that all real men drank alcohol. Unsurprisingly then, he was the first to drop out of the competition. Ao lasted much better, passing out after his eightieth bottle. Naruto however, partially due to his Uzumaki metabolism and partially due to the Kyuubi's healing properties, had matched Zabuza drink for drink and was now on his twenty fifth bottle while still only tipsy.

Haku sighed as he watched his master destroy his poor liver with the substance he had practically inhaled the past hour. "Zabuza-sama please stop, you're clearly going to hurt your health."

"Hagu, I refush to loose to thiz kiz!" Zabuza shouted, a drunken slur covering his accent as he stood up and pointed accusingly at the offender. He would have also slammed a fist down onto the table except his complete loss of motor control caused him to miss the table entirely. It should be noted that by this point, Zabuza was completely wasted.

"Zabuza-sama, Chojruo-san passed out after his first drink." Haku informed him flatly.

"Ohhhh… riee. I men, I refush to loose to _thiz _kiz!" He shouted once more, adjusting his aim.

"… Zabuza-sama, that's an empty barstool."

"Aw yu shure Hagu? Thee look so aliek." Zabuza commented in befuddlement.

Haku sighed in exasperation. "Zabuza-sama, just take your last drink already."

He did so, grabbing the nearest bottle of brandy and chugging down his throat, in a single go. Slamming the empty bottle back down onto the table Zabuza wobbled in his seat for a moment and the hiccupped. He groaned leaning back into his chair… and then completely toppled over on to the ground, completely unconscious.

"Zabuza-sama!"

Naruto looked around the table at his unconscious and defeated foes as he leaned back against his chair and smirked, sipping another shot of bandy.

_'I am the champion of everything' _He thought to himself, feeling more victorious now than when he beat Yagura or killed Gato.

o0o

**Deleted Scenes: Zabuza's Four Drunk Personalities **(Inspired by CollegeHumour's Your Six Drunk Personalities)

**The Sad One:**

"I don't get it Haku." Zabuza bawled as he chugged even more alcohol down his throat. "Why would they pick Mei to be Mizukage instead of me? I mean _I_ wanted to be Mizukage _before_ it was cool."

"There, there Zabuza-sama." Haku patted Zabuza on the back consolingly. "I'm sure being Mizukage isn't all that it's cut out to be. I hear there's a lot of paper work involved."

"I mean I'm stronger than her, I'm cooler than her, I even have a better mission record that her." Zabuza whined pitiably as he counted off the reasons why he should rightfully have been Mizukage. "Is it because I don't wear a shirt? It's because I don't wear a shirt isn't it? You know I don't like how the fabric itches my skin. Those discriminating bastards."

"It's okay Zabuza-sama." Haku reassured him. "We still like you even if you don't wear a shirt."

**The Violent One:**

"Watcha lookin at ya punks!" Zabuza roared as he swung around his massive Kubikiribocho. "Ya wanta piece of me? Do ya?! Do ya?! HUH!"

"Zabuza-sama no! Please don't kill the rabbits." Haku yelled as he grabbed on to his master and desperately hung on for dear life. Seriously why did his master have such a hatred for those cute furry little animals anyways? Substitution Jutsu? Why bother using a log? Just use a rabbit. Target practice? Screw the target post just use a rabbit. Hungry? Who cares if the fridge is full we're having rabbit freaking stew tonight!

**The Stupid One:**

Haku sighed in relief as he walked into the hotel room he and Zabuza was staying for the time being. Tonight had been exhausting and he swore to himself that he would never let his master touch alcohol again if he could help it. Eventually he managed to drag the drunken swordsman back to their hotel room, miraculously without the deaths of any innocent bystanders, something the young Hyoton user was sincerely proud of. After dropping off the Zabuza on to his bed, Haku had gone to the local convenience store to buy some ingredients and food in order to prepare for Zabuza's imminent hangover the next morning. Bag of groceries in hand, he unlocked the door and walked in.

"Zabuza-sama what are you doing!" Haku immediately screeched.

Zabuza looked up from his work to stare at Haku like he just said the stupidest thing in the world. "What does it look like Haku? I'm disarming an explosive tag."

If that wasn't bad enough, he not only had the one explosive tag he was working on but hundreds of other explosive tags piled around the room, waiting to be detonated at the first spark. Where the hell did he even get those in the first place?!

"Zabuza-sama you couldn't disarm one of those when you were sober! What makes you think you can disarm them when you're drunk!?" Haku yelled.

"Haku, if I don't do this everyone in this damn village and their mothers will think I'm a pussy!" Zabuza informed him with a indignant tone. "And besides, I just have one more step t-"

BOOOM!

**The Flirtatious One:**

Zabuza slammed the large double doors open, knocking them both off their hinges, as he strolled into the Mizukage's office with a confident smile on his face.

Mei looked up in alarm. "Zabuza what the hell are you doing?!"

Zabuza slammed both hands down on the desk as he leaned over towards the newly instated Mizukage with a leer on his face. "Hey baby… watcha doin'?"

The transition of Mei's face from alarmed to annoyed was nearly instantaneous. "… What?" she asked flatly.

"Listen," Zabuza explained as he leaned a little back. "I'm an extremely sexy young man lookin' for a good time tonight. You're a moderately attractive career woman nearly at the end of her prime who's clearly desperate for a significant other in her life. I think we all know what's going on here. So…. How's this gonna happen?"

Mei started twitching violently. "Zabuza, you are clearly inebriated so I will be lenient this one time and give you ten seconds to leave my office."

"Oh, playing hard to get I see." Zabuza said as he nodded in complete (mis)understanding. "I've dealt with woman like you before." He looked around the room to check if the coast was clear. "So… how much?"

Mei's bloodlust was so monstrous it made Yagura's look like that of a sick puppy. Unfortunately, Zabzua was far too drunk to notice it. "Momochi Zabuza, did you just imply that I'm a prostitute?"

"Listen woman! Enough with the games!" Zabuza shouted as he slammed his hands down on Mei's desk once more. "How much is this going to cost me?!"

Mei smiled. It was not a good smile. "… Your life."

*The Next Day*

Naruto looked up at Mizukage's Tower in confusion. "Haku, what the hell happened to that rabbit's pen, who stole all my explosive tags and why is Zabuza crucified to the side of Mei's office?"

Haku sighed as he rubbed his temples in resignation. "It's a long story Naruto-san, a loooooong story."


End file.
